KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki has been listed as a shareholder in a financial services company, according to a corporate filing with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
An annual return submitted by Velocity Capital Bhd on Feb 3 last year revealed that Azam holds approximately 17.7 million shares in the Bursa Malaysia-listed firm. Based on the company’s closing share price on Monday, the stake is estimated to be worth around RM800,000 (£149,488.88)
As of the latest records available through SSM, Azam’s name remained on the company’s register of shareholders. It is unclear when the shares were acquired, and Velocity Capital has yet to submit its latest annual return for the current year.
Formerly involved in transportation, logistics, and ceramics manufacturing, Velocity Capital has since repositioned itself as a financial services provider, with a particular focus on moneylending.
Azam did not respond to media queries, while both MACC and Velocity Capital were also reported to have declined comment at the time of publication.
Under a 2024 government circular governing the conduct of public officials, civil servants may hold shares in Malaysian-incorporated companies provided their interests do not exceed 5% of paid-up capital or RM100,000 (£18,768.88) in value, whichever is lower. Public officers are also required to periodically declare their assets.
Azam — who is legally classified as a public officer — has not made a public declaration of his assets. Transparency advocates, including anti-corruption groups, have long urged the government to mandate open asset declarations to strengthen accountability within the civil service.
However, MACC later issued a statement asserting that Azam had fully complied with asset declaration requirements, including submissions made through the Human Resource Management Information System to the Public Service Department. The commission stressed that asset declarations are governed by established administrative procedures and submitted via official channels.
“Any portrayal suggesting a failure to declare assets is factually incorrect and creates a misleading impression of the integrity and governance framework governing MACC,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has extended Azam’s contract three times beyond the mandatory retirement age for public officials, with the current term scheduled to expire in May unless renewed. The prime minister has previously defended the extensions, citing Azam’s “extraordinary courage” in pursuing high-profile corruption cases.
Azam first faced intense public scrutiny in late 2021 following reports concerning his share trading activities, which triggered protests calling for his resignation in early 2022. He maintained that the trades were conducted by his brother using his trading account, while the Securities Commission later said it found no conclusive evidence of breaches under securities laws.
The MACC chief also filed a defamation suit against journalist Lalitha Kunaratnam over the reports, seeking RM10 million in damages. The case was settled last year on undisclosed terms, with neither party admitting liability.
