Ismail Sabri Called Me "Bacul"

Barisan Nasional Ministers will stoop to calling names when Pakatan Rakyat exposed their failure to carry out their responsibilities competently, without fear or favour

I read with great amusement that the Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Datuk Ismail Sabri called me a "bacul" or coward for submitting a motion to deduct RM10 from his pay to be debated in Parlaiment in the coming weeks.

Datuk Ismail Sabri denied he practised selective prosecution when he chose to persecute Suara Initiatif Sdn Bhd (Suaram) on dubious and unsubstantiated allegations while at the same time allowing Umno-linked companies to violate the Companies' Act 1965 for failing to submit their financial accounts and annual returns, some since 2006.

The fact that these companies failed to submit their accounts for years with absolutely no action taken has never been denied and the proof is available on the website of Companies Commission of Malaysia, under Datuk Ismail's purview.

Even when pressed by MP for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar in Parliament yesterday during the winding up of the Budget policy stage debate, the Minister had dithered on whether concrete action will be taken against the directors of these companies which flouted the law, including UMNO Members of Parliament, Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, as well as the family members of Datuk Shahrizat Jalil.

However he had the cheek to tell the media, "I hope that Tony Pua will meet me, and he can teach me about procedures. I do not know whether he's a lawyer or not, but if he is not a lawyer, perhaps I can help him to understand the Companies Act 1965."

The Companies Act requirement for financial accounts and annual returns to be submitted annually is understood by all in Malaysia and do not require any "lessons" from the Minister.  These offences are clear breached of Section 169A of the Companies Act, which carries the penalty 5 years in prison and/or RM30,000.

What justifies the motion I had submitted is the damning findings by the recently released Auditor General's Report where the CCM has failed to prosecute directors which have been fined millions of ringgit.  In addition, the prosecution rate was only only 1.5 percent or RM8.59 million worth in compound fines, out of a total of RM554.94 million worth of uncollected compounds in Kuala Lumpur.

The Auditor General also listed an example where  a director who registered a whopping 683 companies and chalked up 135 compounds for a total of RM640,000 in fines without any further actions was taken.

In four other similar cases, the company directors had between 85 and 135 compound fines issued against them, amounting to between RM640,000 and RM490,000 in fines.  Despite the huge sum of compound fines due, the report said, these directors were still actively registering new companies, and without any hurdle.

Hence there is absolutely no necessity to meet the Minister, although I will be more than happy to meet him if he makes the request.  All the Minister needs to do really is to charge and prosecute all companies, including all the cited Umno-linked companies without fear or favour.

Otherwise, Datuk Ismail Sabri has clearly abused his powers to selectively prosecute Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd (Suaram) to serve Barisan Nasional’s political agenda.  Under such circumstances, a motion to deduct RM10 from the Minister’s pay is certainly more than justified.