Hasbie Satar Diarah Letak Jawatan Sebagai Setiausaha Politik

Hasbie Satar, setiausaha politik kepada Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop telah meletakkan jawatan berkuatkuasa semalam, menurut kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh pejabat Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri hari ini.

Mengikut Bernama, kenyataan satu perenggan itu bagaimanapun tidak menyatakan sebab peletakan jawatan itu.

Jumaat lalu, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) menahan seorang setiausaha polistik kepada menteri kanan di pangsapurinya di Teluk Air Tawar, Butterworth Jumaat lalu.

SPRM yang melakukan serbuan kira-kira jam 3.30 petang turut menemui wang tunai berjumlah RM2 juta di pangsapuri berkenaan.

Turut dirampas termasuk kenderaan pacuan empat roda yang didaftarkan di bawah nama sebuah syarikat yang berpangkalan di Pulau Tikus, Pulau Pinang.

Hasbie Satar, political secretary to Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, has resigned effective last night, according to a statement from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department today.

The one-paragraph statement did not give a reason for his resignation.

The Malaysian Insider today reported that a political secretary has been told to resign after being caught with RM2 million in cash in Penang last Thursday.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) also seized luxury cars and houses from the Umno man. His bank accounts were frozen last year when the MACC reported he was living beyond his means.

The order to quit came as a clear sign that the Najib administration wants anti-graft authorities to investigate without pressure from politicians.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is very firm about this. He wants MACC to investigate without fear or favour,” a government source told The Malaysian Insider.

It is understood the senior minister and his staff are disappointed with the political secretary as he has smeared the government’s name in the fight against corruption.

“The minister feels betrayed as he trusted the man,” a source said.

The man was arrested after MACC officials from its Putrajaya headquarters raided an apartment in Teluk Air Tawar at 3.30pm on Thursday and seized the cash in bundles of RM5, RM10, RM50 and RM100 notes.

It was reported that a 4WD vehicle registered under the name of a Pulau Tikus-based company was also seized, along with a BMW registered in the name of a person from Sarawak.

The political secretary has been under investigation since late last year after allegations cropped up that he had secured properties by being the middleman in deals for approval of multi-million ringgit projects.

The MACC recently cleared several top politicians from both sides of the divide but said investigations were on-going in other high-profile cases. It has also reported that 50 people have been hauled up for graft in Penang for the whole of 2009.

The Najib administration has put fighting corruption as a key target in its National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) under the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) released late last month.

But the MACC has been fighting public perception that it only targets opposition politicians and not those from the ruling Barisan Nasional federal government.

MACC chief commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed and his men have said that they conduct investigations without fear or favour and it’s up to the prosecutors to take their case to court when enough evidence is found.

The MACC probed a total of 939 cases last year of which 633 have been brought to the legal department for further action. -Mlaysian Insider