Justifikasi SPRM tentang kehadiran anak tidak masuk akal, kata Saravanan

Former Malaysia Public Service Minister Saravanan criticized the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Agency (SPRM) for its explanation regarding the presence of his 12-year-old son at the agency's office on Monday, calling it completely unreasonable. He emphasized that there was no need to involve a child under the age of 12 in such matters.

The former minister stated that for an agency with extensive investigative powers, failing to demonstrate basic courtesy and reasonable consideration for a 12-year-old child is highly unacceptable. "Mr. Director General's assertion that 'no one else is at home' to take care of my children, hence 'like a normal parent', is not only irrelevant but also detracts from the core issue," Saravanan remarked.

Earlier, SPRM Director General Abd Halim Aman had stated that the agency had exercised its discretion and considered what was reasonable in deciding not to hand over the property declaration documents to Saravanan's son. He added that the presence of a 12-year-old child at the SPRM office did not mean he was coming to receive documents related to the investigation.

Malaysian newspaper Utusan reported Halim as saying that Saravanan's children might have come because there was no one to take care of them at home. However, Saravanan questioned why the SPRM did not demonstrate this courtesy earlier, suggesting that requiring the physical delivery of a notarized document to a child was beyond reasonable authority and indicative of the misuse of statutory powers.

Previously, Saravanan had also criticized the SPRM when he accompanied his family to the agency's office on Monday, stressing that the property declaration document, which he claimed would be handed over to his son, could be conveyed through him as a father.