A film, a farewell and unfinished cases: What Azam Baki leaves behind at Malaysia’s anti-graft agency

KUALA LUMPUR – An elite team, a hidden server full of damning financial secrets and a conspiracy involving foreign interference and political treachery that tears the country apart. This is the plot of the new Malaysian film Konspirasi, which premiered on May 10.

By outgoing anti-graft chief Azam Baki’s own admission at the screening just two days before his retirement on May 12, the film “gives a clear picture of the real challenges faced by enforcement officers as they carry out their duties”.

He is exactly right, but perhaps not in the way he thinks.

Recent scandals involving the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have put Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the brink of losing support from the largest party in his ruling alliance.

Meanwhile, mistrust in the authorities has reached new peaks – but the government insists claims of misconduct in the anti-graft agency are simply a Zionist conspiracy.

The MACC supported the film in an attempt to burnish its image after being mired in controversy since 2015, not least over its handling of the 1MDB scandal that helped end UMNO-led Barisan Nasional’s six decades of uninterrupted rule in 2018.

A teary-eyed Tan Sri Azam finally clocked out for the last time on May 12, ending over four decades with the MACC and six years as its chief. It was a tenure during which Datuk Seri Anwar was criticised thrice for granting the chief commissioner one-year extensions to his term.

Mr Azam deployed his best efforts by giving exit interviews and appearing on an MACC podcast. On May 11, the agency also sent the media a list of its “achievements” during his six years in charge.

Yet, he leaves under a cloud that has also hung over the Anwar administration. In April, the government was forced to announce that the 63-year-old Mr Azam would be replaced – confirming a March report by The Straits Times – with former judge Halim Aman named as his successor despite being six years older.

Cloud remains over Azam’s exit

Mr Azam reportedly breached civil service rules on share ownership for the second time since 2021 by holding stakes worth millions of ringgit. However, the findings of an internal government probe ordered in February remain under wraps. 

Enforcers such as the police and the Securities Commission (SC) have also said they are looking into claims of a so-called “corporate mafia” involving the authorities, especially anti-graft officers who have for years allegedly extorted corporate figures and colluded with others to force company takeovers.

But the SC has shied away from commenting on its probe, while the police admitted in April that none of those detained or questioned was from the MACC.

Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo, who is also Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman, expressed frustration on May 4 that there had been scant updates “two months since the Cabinet expressed concern and called for a full investigation”. Critics insist that even though Mr Azam’s tenure has ended, the authorities must get to the bottom of his alleged misconduct.

Meanwhile, former economy minister-turned-Anwar critic Rafizi Ramli has called for the high-level task force’s report into Mr Azam’s shareholdings to be made public, claiming in March that the probe has found he owned RM14 million (S$4.5 million) in shares across nine firms.

Ms Latheefa Koya, a human rights lawyer who headed the MACC from 2019 to 2020, also noted in ST’s Asian Insider Podcast on April 24: “We are told there is a report coming, and all of a sudden, it’s absolute silence.”

The unfolding of events eerily echoes the 1MDB scandal which, as Mr Azam boasted during a farewell interview with state news agency Bernama on May 10, was a landmark case.

“Never in Malaysia’s history... have we investigated a sitting prime minister,” he said, referring to how nearly RM3 billion ended up in now-jailed Najib Razak’s accounts. 

Najib had in 2015 sacked critical UMNO leaders from the government and replaced top officials, including the attorney-general, central bank governor and MACC top brass who had investigated him, and the 1MDB probes were quickly swept under the rug – including by Mr Azam himself.

Najib had claimed that RM2.6 billion deposited in his personal accounts was not stolen from 1MDB and that the funds were donations from Arabian princes.

The MACC backed this story in a press statement, and Mr Azam, who was then head of investigations, later said they had met the purported donors. The High Court ruled that the Arabian donor story lacked merit when convicting the former prime minster in 2025.

Undeterred by this history, Mr Azam still claimed credit on May 6 for the MACC achieving “one of the highest recovery rates in the world”, noting that RM31 billion – nearly three-quarters of funds siphoned from 1MDB – has been clawed back since Najib lost power in 2018.

Such revisionism of the MACC’s role in enabling the 1MDB debacle is unlikely to wash.

Case backlog, credibility test

The in-tray awaiting Datuk Seri Halim on his first day in office will not be a gentle introduction.

Aside from the unresolved “corporate mafia” scandal, Mr Halim will have to decide how to proceed on numerous high-profile cases.

One such probe centres on Mr Rafizi’s role when he was economy minister in the RM1.1 billion deal with British chip design giant Arm Holdings. Mr Azam said on May 6 that the MACC has recommended charges against two individuals, even as investigations into the alleged abuse of power and cheating are ongoing.

A much-scrutinised takeover bid of construction and property firm IJM triggered in January by conglomerate Sunway also saw IJM and its chairman Krishnan Tan investigated by the MACC for alleged bribery, governance issues and suspicious overseas transactions.

Tan Sri Tan was arrested in February despite his willingness to cooperate in the investigations. Sources familiar with the matter told ST that after the attempted takeover failed in April, the probe hit a wall and investigators had downed tools by the end of the same month.

But the MACC had not at the time formally informed IJM or its chairman whether the matter was still alive.

Whether Mr Halim, a former High Court judge, can draw a line under these issues will be a closely watched early test of his mettle as the new anti-graft chief.

DAP chief Gobind on April 25 said Mr Halim’s immediate priority should be to restore public confidence in the MACC.

“The initial steps taken... will define the trajectory of his leadership. To restore public trust, these pressing issues must be addressed effectively to signal that genuine reforms are under way,” he added.