Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem defended his predecessor Abdul Taib Mahmud against allegations of corruption at the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya today.

Adenan pointed out that despite investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Taib has not been brought to court.

“Speaking of rule of law, one of the rule of laws is that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“You have allegations against my predecessor? For your information, he has been investigated by the MACC. We know that he has not been charged,” Adenan said when speaking as a panellist at the conference.

He said this in response to another panellist, Global Witness co-founder Patrick Alley, who questioned whether Taib is enjoying impunity when Adenan ( photo ) was delivering his talk.

“Are you able to acknowledge that Taib and his family are the roots of problems in Sarawak?

“Is it possible to take on his empire, given how deep the root? If you cannot do that, can anything really change? Will you freeze the assets of Taib and investigate him?” Alley asked.

Taib served as Sarawak’s chief minister for 33 years, and during his reign, he and his family have faced numerous allegations of corruption.

They have consistently denied any wrongdoing. Taib eventually stepped down as chief minister in February last year, and went on to become the governor of Sarawak.

Meanwhile, Alley slammed on Taib again, by pointing to the theme of this year’s three-day IACC conference, which is “Ending Impunity”.

“The main theme of this conference is ‘Ending impunity’. I would argue that Taib has enjoyed impunity. I do not think that the fact he has not been brought before a court reflects his ‘clean bill of heath’.

“He is either corrupt or an incredibly successful businessman,” Alley said, before panel moderator Ron Dixon asked him and Adenan to move on from this issue.