DAP’s Abdul Aziz Bari proposed Pakatan Harapan to allocate a seat to former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) man Bahri Mohd Zin to contest in the 14th general election.

This was after Bahri on Tuesday confirmed his early retirement as MACC special operations director due to unhappiness that the SRC International case was not prosecuted.

“If he is willing, Pakatan Harapan parties should consider giving him a seat in the forthcoming general election.

“This will show how serious Harapan is in combating the scourge," he said in a statement today.

Abdul Aziz, a constitutional law expert, described Bahri as a “towering Malay”.

“Bahri is the sort of Malays - towering Malays - that ought to be the icon for the community.

“He was courageous enough to speak out and more importantly, willing to leave a highly paid position for principles,” he said.

Abdul Aziz, who was in 2011 suspended from Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia for commenting on the monarchy, said he understood what it was like to be in Bahri’s position.

“A man of principle like Bahri should not be allowed to fade into oblivion,” he said.

Bahri was a key figure in the investigation into SRC International, in which at least RM42 million in funds ended up in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts.

During the course of the investigation, Bahri himself was questioned by police due to leaked information from the probe, and his men were also arrested.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of wrongdoing, explaining that Najib did not know the SRC International funds had entered his personal bank accounts and thought it was part of an “Arab donation”.