PM Anwar set to dump Malaysia’s embattled anti-graft chief as pressure over abuses mounts

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to drop under-fire Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki when his tenure expires on May 12, high-level sources told The Straits Times.

This comes as accusations of abuses against the anti-graft agency and its leader – that date back to when he was first named MACC chairman in 2020, two years before Datuk Seri Anwar came to power – have grown in volume since February.

According to government and legal sources in the know about the situation, Tan Sri Azam will not receive a fourth annual extension from a government under pressure to take sterner action against the anti-corruption chief.

“PM has repeatedly stressed to Cabinet in recent weeks that Azam won’t be renewed,” an official source told ST on condition of anonymity as the discussions were confidential.

Reports in February 2026 – especially from US-based news agency Bloomberg – alleging that the MACC has for years abused its wide-ranging powers to extort from and manipulate corporate figures have sparked an uproar and protests calling for Mr Azam to be suspended pending investigations.

These calls have even come from within the Prime Minister’s own Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli, who was until May 2025 the deputy president of Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, attended the “Arrest Azam Baki” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 15, along with several other lawmakers from the party.

This came on the back of news that Mr Azam breached shareholding rules for civil servants on several occasions, including as recently as January, despite having already courted controversy for the same offence in 2021. This forced the government to appoint a task force made up of the Attorney-General, the secretary-general of the Treasury and the head of the public service department to investigate the claim.

But voices in civil society, as well as politicians, including from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) – which supplies the largest number of MPs in the Anwar administration – have instead called for an independent public inquiry into the so-called “corporate mafia” allegations against the MACC.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who is also Transport Minister, said in a Feb 24 interview with local news portal Malaysiakini that “the government’s response has been inadequate and does not meet public expectations”.

His party has brought forward its national congress from September to July so that delegates can decide on DAP’s future in the Anwar administration based on whether the pace of reforms has accelerated in the first half of 2026.

This came after DAP lost every seat it contested in November’s Sabah state polls as PH won just one of 22 wards it stood in. Among campaign issues in the easternmost state’s election was the perception of selective prosecution in a graft scandal involving mining licences in Sabah.

“That (the end of Azam’s tenure) is a win that DAP will have to take and try to convince their supporters that they are making progress,” advisory firm Viewfinder Global Affairs’ managing director Adib Zalkapli told ST.

“It won’t be easy as the damage has been done from over three years of stalled reforms.”

Other promised reforms have also fallen by the wayside, such as moves to limit the prime minister’s time in power to 10 years and separate the power of prosecution from the prime minister-appointed attorney-general. In addition, there was also a plan to liberalise entrance to public universities and the civil service by accepting examination results from Chinese-language independent schools.

Mr Anwar previously renewed the appointment of Mr Azam, who reached the retirement age of 60 in 2023, for three years running despite calls from corruption watchdogs to refer the appointment to Parliament.

His PH coalition also campaigned at the 2022 General Election for Parliament to vet the nomination of the MACC chief, having called for Mr Azam’s suspension due to his earlier shareholding controversy.

“Drastic changes in safeguarding the reputation of these institutions are an important necessary step to address the trust deficit and regain support from his own base,” risk consultancy KRA Group’s strategy director, Mr Amir Fareed Rahim, told ST.

“Getting to the bottom of issues surrounding the MACC is a baseline requirement before talking about other reforms.”

Mr Anwar has so far called for the public to allow the government’s task force to complete its probe into Mr Azam’s shareholdings. But he has also described the allegations of abuse against the MACC as a conspiracy involving Zionists to challenge Malaysia’s credibility and a threat to national security.

The police are investigating this alleged conspiracy to topple the government as a crime of undermining democracy.