KUALA LUMPUR: THE clock is ticking for bribe-givers as the government prepares to widen its dragnet in the fight against corruption.
Action will be taken against bribe-givers under the soon-to-be enforced Section 17(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act (MACA).
This clause will see companies being fined no less than 10 times the value of the gratification, or RM1 million, whichever is higher, or be subjected to a prison term of not exceeding 20 years, or both, when the law comes into effect in June 2020.
Section 17A(3) also provides that if the offence is committed by a commercial organisation, the director, controller, officer, partner and persons managing its affairs at the time of commission of the offence is deemed to have committed the offence of failing to prevent corruption.
These individuals will then need to prove that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Shamsun Baharin Mohd Jamil said the corporate liability clause would give the agency more bite in terms of stamping out the practice.
“Yes, we can go after the big fish and the repeat offenders using this and it’s a good education tool to drive the message home.
“But people who are offered bribes, especially civil servants, must report cases when the proposition is made.
“If they keep quiet, it’s as though they did something wrong and don’t want to come forward,” he told the New Straits Times.
Shamsun said that excuses such as “there was no choice” or “we were only doing as we were told by our higher-ups” when signing any agreement, were unacceptable as all civil servants were guided by a list of do’s and don’ts in their code of conduct.
He was commenting on a statement by Public Service Department director-general Datuk Seri Borhan Dolah, who had urged the MACC to neutralise bribe-givers as they were the enablers and catalysts in cases of graft involving civil servants.
In a New Sunday Times interview, Borhan had reiterated some troubling facts about the level of corruption in the civil service.
Among them were statistics which revealed that 46.3 per cent of the 4,860 people arrested by the MACC from 2014 to June this year were civil servants.
Borhan also quoted an MACC survey, which revealed that 22.1 per cent of respondents in the public sector said that they were willing to accept bribes if they were in a position of power.
Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services president, Datuk Azih Muda agreed to using the MACC law as it would steer away those seeking to lure civil servants into graft.
However, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan disagreed with the move to introduce the new provision in the MACC Act.
He claimed that the new provision would make it easier for someone to assume that the implicated company directors or bosses were guilty until proven innocent, by virtue of their employee offering bribes to someone.
“Your accusers do not have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you are guilty in this respect and this contravenes the basic principles of the rule of law.”
He said it was sufficient for companies to adopt the internal Anti-Bribery Management System by June 1, 2020 as required by the MACC, besides adhering to guidelines launched by the graftbusters on Section 17A.
When asked about Borhan’s statement, Shamsuddin said he felt that the government was passing the buck when it came to the issue of penalising bribe-givers.
“It takes two to tango. The government and the Public Service Commission need to ask themselves why bribe givers resort to it.
“It’s because they want something facilitated or fast-tracked because the system is inefficient and bogged with red tape. Besides that, there is a culture of asking.”
He said recruiting a foreign worker could take up to a year due to the extensive bureaucracy.
“But if you know the right people and agents you can get the paperwork processed on the spot.
“Some have to wait for more than a year to recruit a worker even though the necessary fees and levies have been paid upfront and paperwork is in order. By right, it shouldn’t take more than two-and-a-half months to know one’s status and three months to complete the process.”
Shamsuddin said MEF had requested the government to come up with a timeline for each process related to the recruitment of foreign workers, but it has not given a commitment on the duration needed for the process.