KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has proposed a centralised network involving several key agencies to tackle increasingly complex financial crimes that result in substantial national losses.
An integrated network is necessary to unify financial institutions, regulatory agencies, and enforcement bodies, as well as private agencies, to implement a more comprehensive and effective approach to combating corruption, financial crimes, and money laundering, while also avoiding overlap among related agencies.
Currently, besides the MACC, other ministries and agencies involved in tackling financial crimes include the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN), the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa).
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations), Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya, said that given the increasingly complex nature of cross-border financial crimes, particularly money laundering, cooperation among these key agencies must be established immediately.
"In these challenging times, recognising the importance of a network that can unify financial institutions, regulatory agencies, and enforcement bodies is crucial.
"On this basis, the MACC has outlined and included the implementation of this cooperation programme as one of the initiatives in the MACC Strategic Plan 2021-2025, aiming to achieve efficient and effective investigations by creating strong synergies.
"'Two heads are better than one' is the concept of creative cooperation to find new solutions to old problems. I believe the old problem is corruption itself, while the new solution is to change approaches in line with current advancements," he told BH recently.
Yesterday, Deputy Communications Minister, Teo Nie Ching, revealed that online fraud crimes have seen a sharp increase since 2022, with losses amounting to RM1.224 billion due to financial crimes, most of which involve Facebook fraud, as of October.
Last year, the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) recorded RM1.34 billion in online crime losses from Jan 1 to Dec 8.
Ahmad Khusairi further said that the MACC is prepared to share knowledge, skills, strategies, and methods used in case investigations.
He said the feedback received can be assimilated to enhance and improve investigative methods involving corruption and money laundering cases.
For example, he said that Ops Samba 2.0, which saw the arrest of 34 public servants from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) and 27 civilians since March, revealed leakages that resulted in nearly RM2 billion in tax collection losses.
"This operation is related to the smuggling syndicates of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol, health products, and vehicle spare parts at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
"In this investigation, the MACC successfully froze 233 bank accounts belonging to individuals and companies with a total value of RM17 million.
"It has also opened many eyes to the longstanding leakages in the country. The success of this case is a testament to how synergy and collaboration between Bank Negara and the LHDN can yield quality results."
Sharing a similar view, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) director, Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, also suggested creating a system accessible by both enforcement and prevention agencies to minimise the risk of financial losses.
He said such steps are necessary because financial crimes require immediate action and an efficient cooperation network.
"I think the cooperation network as proposed by MACC can and will happen in the future because, in the issue of financial crimes, we see various overlaps and interconnections between the existing agencies.
"However, the inclusion of JSJK cooperation already exists with various agencies such as the MCMC, Nacsa, and Bank Negara, particularly involving online investment cases, scams, and even online gambling cases. Internal cooperation with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) always takes place," he said.
In the same development, KPDN chief enforcement officer, Datuk Azman Adam, said close cooperation with enforcement agencies such as BNM must be implemented to complete investigations under the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUAA 2001) (Act 613).
He said identifying the real culprits and time-consuming cases are among the technical issues in the agency's investigations.
"For example, the use of mule accounts and proxies in business registration or wealth concealment, as well as the use of new technologies such as e-wallet payment technologies and the like.
"Criminals also employ various other methods to ensure that illegal money is difficult to detect, such as transaction layering tactics to ensure that illegal money is difficult to trace and to make it appear as legitimate transactions," he said.