KOTA KINABALU: It is not the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) place to investigate judges' code of conduct, says Sabah Law Society (SLS) president Roger Chin.
He said issues regarding judges' breaches of ethics were for the judges ethics committee to investigate and not the MACC, who are mandated by law to investigate corruption.
SLS said they were alarmed by MACC's findings that judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali had breached the Judges' Code of Ethics 2009 and that there was a conflict of interest, as stated by Minister in the prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Chin said that MACC's functions, among others, was to detect and investigate suspected offences, attempts to commit offences and suspected conspiracies to commit offences identified under the MACC Act.
"The offences under the Act, unsurprisingly, all relate to corruption, including other offences of corruptly giving or accepting gratification, corruptly withdrawing tenders, bribery and using an office for gratification.
"What is important to note is that the word 'ethics' and the phrase 'conflict of interest' do not appear even once in the Act," he said in a statement on Friday (April 7).
On the other hand, Chin said that the purpose of the Judges' Code of Ethics 2009 is to state the basic standards to govern the conduct of all judges and to provide guidance to judges in settling and maintaining high standards of personal and judicial conduct.
"Matters related to ethics and conflict of interest are dealt with in the Code of Ethics.
"Any complaint against a judge who is alleged to have breached the Code of Ethics shall be made in writing to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court and may be investigated by the Judges' Ethics Committee, not the MACC," he said.
In other words, Chin said, the MACC is in no position to investigate or make conclusions as to any alleged conflict of interest or breaches of the Code of Ethics.
The SLS said nobody is above the law, even judges, he said, adding the MACC must investigate all corruption-related offences.
The SLS takes note of the statement of the MACC's Operation Review Panel chairman that, "when MACC receives a report or complaint on allegations of corruption, abuse of power or misappropriation, it is duty-bound to investigate."
"This statement is in itself mostly correct. However, the distinction that the MACC appears to have missed is that corruption is a separate concept from conflict of interest or breaches of the Code of Ethics.
"While it is possible that certain actions may amount to, for example, both corruption and a breach of the Code of Ethics, the MACC ought to be more cautious in its findings and more conscious of its jurisdiction," Chin added.
"The SLS urges the MACC and all other bodies or persons in power to be respectful of the separation of their respective roles, to avoid further damaging public confidence in Malaysian institutions, and not to unnecessarily interfere with each other.
"The SLS has and will always stand and march, when necessary, for the independence of the judiciary," he added.
