The Securities Commission (SC) today denied carrying out any investigations into its former deputy chief executive Ainum Mohd Saaid, who is currently the attorney-general.

The commission said in a press statement - issued in response to a malaysiakini report yesterday - said that it "it is not investigating, nor has cause to investigate Ainum".

Ainum, who took over the attorney-general post early this year, was the commission's deputy chief executive since April 1999.

However when contacted later, commission officials refused to elaborate further on that matter and were tight-lipped on whether any in-house probe was being carried out on any other SC personnel.

"Our statement is clear, there is no investigation on Ainum," said a SC spokesperson.

Yesterday malaysiakini reported Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Rais Yatim confirming that Ainum was on a two-month leave due to health reasons.

However, the minister declined to comment if the leave was due to an investigation by the SC on Ainum.

"The chambers is completely under my purview and my comments would be this for the moment," he said, adding that he would be aware if Ainum had been asked to go on leave due to other reasons.

It is learnt that the SC was conducting an in-house probe regarding problematic securities commission duties which were executed during Ainum's tenure at the commission.

Unsatisfactory comments

Meanwhile, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang urged Rais to reveal if anyone has been appointed in the interim period to carry out the duties and powers of the AG.

Lim added that Rais must also clarify if he is the acting AG following Ainum's absence from the chambers.

The opposition leader said that Rais' comments on this matter yesterday were "most unsatisfactory and unacceptable".

"The public interest demands a clear cut answer and accounting. If Ainum is under any investigations, the authorities should then be frank and forthcoming in saying so," Lim said in a statement.

"If she is not under the SC investigation, there should be a flat denial as it would be most unfair to Ainum to have such a cloud over her, especially after her appointment was linked to her connections with the former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who is now out of favour with the prime minister."

No comment on interim changes

When contacted today, officials at the AG's chambers refused to comment of any interim changes.

During her tenure at the SC, Ainum - the country's first woman AG - had also acted as the chairperson of the Securities Industry Development Centre, which is the commission's education and training arm.

In the past, she was involved in the commercial sector as an executive director and chief operating officer in several public-listed companies.

Ainum had also worked in the government's legal and judicial sector for 26 years as a parliamentary draughtsperson.

She was seconded to the World Bank, Washington DC, as a counsel in the Private Sector Development Group from 1990 to 1991.