KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s government rejected a lawmaker’s request for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to disclose former anti-graft agency chief Azam Baki’s shareholding records.

Azalina Othman, a minister overseeing law and institutional reform under the Prime Minister’s Department, said on July 7 that the share records were part of investigations, personal information and asset declarations protected under existing laws. 

“It’s not a public document,” Azalina said in a written response to Lee Chean Chung, a lawmaker from Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Lee earlier on July 7 had asked for Azam’s shareholding records from 2012 to 2026.   

Anwar’s Cabinet ordered a probe into Azam’s shareholdings after Bloomberg News reported in February that the former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner held stock in a financial services firm that was worth more than the allowed limit for public officials.

Azam has denied he did anything wrong.

The investigation was carried out by a three-person team of senior public servants led by the attorney general.

Findings were reported to Cabinet and the chief secretary to the government was asked in March to take next steps, but the report hasn’t yet been made public.

Another probe was ordered following a separate news story later in February, in which Bloomberg reported allegations that anti-graft officials colluded with a network of businessmen nicknamed the corporate mafia to intimidate executives and oust them from their companies.

The commission, known as the MACC, denied the allegations.

The Cabinet ordered law enfo...