This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 4, 2018 - July 10, 2018

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is unable to take action against Sarawak Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, although 15 case files had been opened against him, it said.

MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull said the files had been opened since 2015 and investigation showed that there was no case that could be linked to Abdul Taib when he was the chief minister of the state as the decisions in the cases concerned were made by others.

“We have to stop the investigation into Taib at this point. We have already opened 15 files on Taib. It is true he was involved in part of the allegations. But there was not even in one case where he chaired the meeting or made the decision,” Mohd Shukri said.

“The law does not allow us to take action if he did not make a decision,” he told reporters after launching a book entitled Corruption and Crime in Malaysia written by Transparency International Malaysia president Datuk Akhbar Satar.

Mohd Shukri said the MACC had also submitted the files to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“There is no way to implicate him until we receive new information saying there are people behind the scenes or there are witnesses that can assist in the investigation,” he said.

Abdul Taib was the chief minister of Sarawak for 33 years from 1981 to 2014. During his tenure, there were allegations of corruption, including claims on abuse of power, land seizures and bribery.

MACC is reported to have been investigating Abdul Taib since 2011.

On April 20, Abdul Taib and his family were accused in a lawsuit of funnelling proceeds of corruption into Canadian real estate, with a Swiss environmental group pressing some of Canada’s biggest financial firms to turn over information on how the money flowed, according to a news portal.

Abdul Taib’s family used the money to fund the expansion of the Ottawa-based real estate company Sakto Group’s C$250 million (RM769.57 million) real estate empire, according to a lawsuit unsealed this week by an Ontario judge and provided to Bloomberg by the non-profit group and its law firm.

Abdul Taib had diverted funds from “the massive deforestation of Sarawak and by illegally structuring state commercial activities to benefit him, his family and his related companies”, Switzerland-based Bruno-Manser Fund said in the complaint.

Bloomberg reported subsequently that the judge had on Feb 7 dismissed any link between Sakto and the investigations into alleged corruption involving Taib in Malaysia.

Last week, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said “there has been a lot of talk but no report” against Abdul Taib and as such, no action could be taken against him.