Lim said he stood by a press statement by the Pakatan Harapan presidential council, issued in January 2022, which called for Azam and several others to be suspended over a shareholding scandal to make way for an independent investigation.
Lim, the Bagan MP, was DAP secretary-general when the 2022 statement was issued. Others who signed the statement were PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, now prime minister, then Upko president Madius Tangau and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.
“Just as the council had suggested in 2022, I would also agree that this issue be debated as a specific topic in Parliament before the current session ends on March 3,” he said in a separate statement today.
He said Azam was previously involved in a similar shareholding controversy, where he was said to have acquired between RM1.9 million and RM2.9 million worth of shares in Gets Global Bhd in 2016.
Lim said Azam is now involved in a similar controversy over his ownership of shares, following a Bloomberg report which said that Azam held 17.7 million shares (or 1.7%) in Velocity Capital Bhd, based on the company’s annual return lodged on Feb 3 last year.
This is said to be in breach of a 2024 government circular which states that civil servants may hold shares in Malaysian-incorporated companies only if the holdings do not exceed 5% of the paid-up capital or RM100,000 in value, whichever is lower.
Azam has insisted that he had not committed any offence and did not hold any shares in the market currently. It is understood that he is seeking RM100 million in damages for alleged harm to his reputation and professional standing.
Bloomberg News has defended the publication of the article, which also alleged that Azam had links to several businessmen with questionable reputations. A Bloomberg spokesman told The Edge that it stands by its reporting.
Bukit Aman’s classified crime investigation unit has begun a criminal defamation investigation into the Bloomberg report and a special task force has been set up to probe the shareholding allegations.
Anwar has said the government would wait for the results of a special task force investigation before deciding whether to take any action against Azam.
The G25 group of prominent retired civil servants and DAP MP Ramkarpal Singh have also called for Azam to be put on garden leave pending investigations.