Dzulkifli Ahmad, a senior officer with the Attorney-General's Chambers, has been appointed as the new Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner.

He will replace Abu Kassim Mohamed whose retirement takes effect next Monday.

The appointment was announced by chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa. Dzulkifli, 48, will hold the post until July 2021.

Dzulkifli, a graduate from the International Islamic University, had handled several high-profile corruption and criminal breach of trust cases in the past.

This includes the conviction of two Tabung Haji senior general managers, Mohamad Shafie and Mohamed Amin Sidek, in 2002.

However, Mohamad was discharged and acquitted in 2012 by the Court of Appeal.

Dzulkifli also led the prosecution team when National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) chairperson Mohamed Salleh Ismail was charged four years ago.

His last position in the AG's Chambers was head of the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement team. Prior to this, he headed the anti-money laundering unit.

Dzulkifli also served as secretary to the special task force on 1MDB, replacing Jessica Gurmeet Kaur after Mohamed Apandi Ali succeeded Abdul Gani Patail as attorney-general.

Jessica, a permanent resident, who was part of the task force formed by Gani on the 1MDB, had her contract terminated. It was then that she had been threatened with deportation.

She along with former MACC adviser Rashpal Singh were investigated over a leak of a purported charge sheet against the prime minister.

Dzulkifli was also one of the AG's Chambers officers implicated in the suit filed by lawyer Rosli Dahlan for conducting an illegal search of the lawyer's assets in 2007.

Yesterday, The Malay Mail Online reported that Dzulkifli's salary scale had been upgraded to Jusa A Superscale in order to pave the way for his appointment to head the MACC.

Dzulkifli is believed to have played a role in helping clear Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion issues.

His name had consistently cropped up as a possible candidate to replace Abu Kassim, but Apandi had denied it then.

During the Jan 26 press conference where Apandi announced that there were no grounds to file charges against the prime minister, Dzulkifli (photo, right) was seated next to him.

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