SHAH ALAM: The Home Ministry is to undertake a thorough clean-up to rid the agencies under its jurisdiction of officers and staff involved in crime, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, said the clean-up would be carried out all the time and would not be seasonal.
“We must be on the alert because there are among us those who have bad traits, which can ‘spoil the barrel’. I do not want such a situation to happen in any enforcement agency under the Home Ministry and other ministries as well,” he said at a press conference after a meeting with the staff and students of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) here.
Ahmad Zahid was commenting on the arrests of several senior police officers and personnel on suspicion of having been involved in a protection money racket.
Ahmad Zahid said the developments were being monitored by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak through the information provided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and other agencies.
He also said that the Home Ministry would not protect any officer or staff of enforcement agencies who were in cahoots with crime syndicates.
“My colleagues and I in the Home Ministry are of the opinion that we should not feel ashamed if there are among us people associated with crime in the enforcement agencies. They will surely not get any protection from us. This is something that I want to emphasise,” he said.
On the Royal Malaysia Police announcement last Monday of a large-scale clean-up in the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department at Bukit Aman following the arrests of 16 senior officers suspected to be protecting syndicates, Ahmad Zahid said the clean-up would be conducted in all police departments.
This was because there were also cases involving police officers from other departments, such as the six arrested in Melaka over a protection money racket, he added.
“We want to conduct an overall clean-up because what has allegedly happened in Melaka does not involve the Narcotics Department but the Serious Crimes Division,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid said he met the Melaka Chief Police Officer yesterday and said to him that there was no need to protect anyone, even if they had allegedly been used or forced to commit the crime.
The six police officers have been remanded for six days from May 17 to assist in the investigation into the collection of money to provide protection to massage parlours and illegal gambling dens in Melaka. — Bernama