KUALA LUMPUR: Latheefa Beebi Koya, the newly-appointed chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said yesterday she quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) on Monday with immediate effect.
“Thanks for the advice. But I sent in my resignation with immediate effect as an ordinary member of PKR yesterday (Monday), upon being told of my impending appointment as the MACC chief,” she tweeted.
Latheefa was responding to PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil who had said she should emulate Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof and quit the party to avoid the perception of partisanship because the MACC head should be politically neutral.
Meanwhile, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) advisor N Surendran said human rights lawyer Melissa Sasidaran was appointed as the new director of LFL yesterday following Latheefa’s departure from LFL to take up her new appointment.
He said Melissa was the legal and campaign coordinator at LFL.
She was called to the Malaysian Bar in 2010 and completed her LLM in Human Rights, Conflict and Justice at SOAS University of London in 2018, he said.
“She has represented numerous civil society and opposition politicians/activists in urgent arrests, remand hearings and criminal cases in court, particularly for offences under the Sedition Act 1948, Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, Penal Code, and Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” he said.
A statement today from the Prime Minister’s Office said Latheefa’s appointment as the MACC chief commissioner is effective June 1.
She takes over from Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull who applied to shorten his contract that is due to expire on May 17 next year. – Bernama
