KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Corruption Watch (MCW) has called for the independence of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to be maintained.
MCW president Jais Abdul Karim said the graft-busters should not be placed under the purview of the government as it would harm the integrity of the commission.
He said the commission's freedom from pressure or interference was vital to combating corruption.
"MACC must stand on its own under the Federal Constitution... the monitoring and supervision of the five bodies established in accordance with the MACC Act 2009 is sufficient," he said in a statement.
Jais said if the MACC were to be placed under the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), further studies should be conducted.
"Many complaints of misconduct involving 21 enforcement agencies remain unaddressed due to the limited staff at EAIC.
"MCW is of the opinion that the MACC needs to be a separate entity from the EAIC as stated in Act 700 because the MACC will assist the EAIC in investigations and will also be a system of checks and balances for the EAIC."
Jais also called for the EAIC to be dissolved.
"MCW would like to recommend that the EAIC be dissolved. All tasks of regulating the misconduct of enforcement officers must be given to the integrity unit of the respective agency which is given the full authority," he said in response to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (law and institutional reform) Ramkarpal Singh's statement that the government was still scrutinising the proposal to place the MACC under the purview of the EAIC.
He said the government had established a pro-tem committee to discuss the proposal following the cabinet's meeting on April 19.