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Culture of fear important to deter graft, says Nur Jazlan at NRD's Corruption-Free Pledge ceremony

PUTRAJAYA: To deter graft, there is a need to build a culture of fear of being audited and probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said this was necessary in the fight against corruption and stressed on the need of building an entire ecosystem which was transparent to ensure swift and early detection of graft.

"If we can expose corrupt conduct fast, the problem will not fester, more so with the MACC coming in and conducting its investigations," he said at the Corruption-Free Pledge ceremony by the National Registration Department (NRD) today.

Present were MACC deputy chief commissioner (management and professionalism) Datuk Seri Mohd Jamidan Abdullah and NRD director-general Datuk Mohd Yazid Ramli.

Nur Jazlan said that it was also important for the MACC to find a form of balance when conducting an investigation to ensure that the process would not tarnish the image of the person or organisation under probe.

"(Unfortunately), when MACC came in to investigate, the image of those being probed will be affected.

"The persons of interest in the MACC's probe had already been judged and perceived as being "dirty" by the public, despite investigation on the case has yet to be completed, he said.

Meanwhile, for the NRD, Yazid said the department had put in place a two-layered verification process as a check-and-balance system when dealing with sensitive data.

"Our directors and supervisors have been constantly reminded of their responsibilities to monitor their officers and staff by conducting spot checks," he said, adding that the NRD had listed graft and abuse of power as one of the risks in its risk management plan.

He added that the availability of technology and standard operating procedures could minimise the issues of integrity.

"We have formed an ICT Enhancement Committee aimed at reviewing procedures and work processes to look for any possible loopholes which can be abused internally and hacked externally."

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