PUTRAJAYA:It is harder to investigate those in power, especially the Prime Minister, senior ministers and the chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission rather than "Tuns", says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He refuted claims by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday who said that it is hard to investigate "Tuns" as the current ministers currently hold power in the government.
He unfolded today's copy of the New Straits Times with the headline 'Not easy to investigate a Tun'.
"I want to say I disagree that it is not easy to investigate a Tun because I can be easily investigated as the government holds power. I don't have any power.
"The ones that are hard to investigate are the prime minister, MACC chief commissioner and senior ministers. You can't investigate them..
"In the past there has been no investigations done on these big shots. Not "Tuns" but big shots," he said to reporters at the Perdana Leadership Foundation building, here, today.
He claimed that Anwar, who has accusations of corruption levelled against him in former Bank Negara governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid's four-page statutory declaration, is not being investigated.
Instead, he said, Tun Daim Zainuddin is being probed and had a building belonging to his family seized, showing that it is easy to investigate a Tun.
"The deputy prime minister (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) was charged in court for 47 cases and suddenly the deputy public prosecutor and the Attorney-General (AG) had stopped prosecuting which shows that even the AG cannot investigate (big shots).
"The Rakyat wants to know whether Murad's accusations were true or not but the AG said they have the power to not explain (the non-investigation).
"In our country, the one that holds a bigger power than the Chief Justice is the AG. Even federal court judges have to have a grounds of judgement but the AG doesn't have to explain (their decision to the public).
"So the AG is a superman," he said.
Murad had 24 years ago claimed that Anwar, who was then in the opposition, had RM3 billion in over 20 bank accounts..