KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department has formed a partnership with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to combat corruption relating to wildlife crimes.
Its director Augustine Tuuga said the department needs to work with all possible partners to build better understanding and ensure its enforcement team is trained to respond to corruption.
This, he said, should also cover the forestry and fishery agencies.
"We must be aware that corruption is multifaceted and can occur at every stage of the wildlife, forestry and fisheries value chain.
"It can include bribe for information on the movement of animals or patrols, or to obtain rights and quotas, or grease the wheels of shipments, to ensure that they are not inspected or seized," he said in a statement jointly issued by MACC and the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC).
Tuuga stressed the department was looking forward to extending collaboration with the MACC, adding they would work towards the creation of an Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan.
Last week, the department along with MACC and DGFC organised a two-day workshop here, on Challenges of Enforcement in Combating Corruption in Wildlife Crimes.
Held for the first time in Sabah, the anti-corruption workshop with emphasis on wildlife crimes was aimed at increasing awareness on anti-corruption laws, including witness and whistleblower protection.
Attended by Sabah and Sarawak representatives of various law enforcement agencies, the workshop was part of the training available for the inter-agency Working Group on Wildlife Crime Intelligence.
Speaking on his concern in regards to wildlife crime, Sabah MACC director Karunanithy Subbiah emphasised that bribery is no longer seen as a local problem but has evolved into a trans-boundary crime phenomena.
"Worldwide, bribery in crime involving wildlife smuggling is increasingly spreading at a worrying pace and has become one of the driving forces for illicit trade that is still hard to curb at the national and international levels," he said.
DGFC Director Prof Dr Benoit Goossens hoped the workshop would lead to an increase in inter-agency collaboration and to work towards the objectives of the Wildlife State Action Plans adopted last year by the State Cabinet.
"During the 2017 international workshops on proboscis monkey, Sunda clouded leopard and Bornean banteng, jointly organised by SWD and DGFC, it was recognised that poaching, hunting, and illegal killing and trade, were real threats to these and other species in Sabah.
"The information compiled at the workshops includes a State Action Plans for each species, specifically to increase the capacities of wildlife law enforcement government agencies and of key partners in conservation," he said.
Goossens said this was in particular in regards to training crime analysts, investigators and intelligence gatherers, and a certified forensic technician at the Sabah Wildlife Health, Genetic and Forensic Laboratory.