COMMENT | These excerpts, published 30 days apart, repeated in between, quoting the then-MACC chief repeating a narrative designed to amplify cross-border transactions - serious enough, it seemed, to warrant the involvement of government agencies in both countries.

The figure mentioned – RM2.5 billion – and the investigations were enough to rattle an acquisition, but after the dust finally settled, the whole scenario took a different turn – the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was dragged to justify the action.

Ten days after Azam Baki’s retirement, it is obvious that such a chronicle did not exist – it was concocted for reasons better known to the MACC and its former chief.

On Wednesday, Azam’s successor, Abdul Halim Aman, confirmed that...