TRANSPARENCY International Malaysia (TI-M) hails the call by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to amend Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009 to have greater clarity so that corrupt practices and other related offences can be better tackled, especially in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
As stated by MACC deputy commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki, MACC needs more bite against corrupt public officials, including politicians.
TI-M also supports MACC on the recently proposed Misconduct for Civil Service Act, where civil servants who cause substantial financial losses to the government due to negligence and non-compliance with policies or procedures will face criminal charges. TI-M has been advocating these amendments to the MACC Act 2009 for several years and hopes to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Section 23 of MACC Act 2009 prohibits “an officer of public body or public officials” from abusing their power for any gratification for themselves or for their relatives. TI-M shares Azam’s opinion that many politicians are being appointed into SOEs and public interest entities, and that the awarding of contracts by public officials to their family members and the abuse of tendering process are becoming a serious problem.
TI-M is also looking forward to the inclusion of the Corporate Liability provisions into the MACC Act 2009, which will ultimately hold companies accountable for corruption cases involving their employees.
Currently, when an employee is caught for corruption or bribery, he or she will face the consequences and can be charged individually. The company that the employee works for is not held liable for its employee’s acts, as in law, the company, not being a human person, is not capable of having criminal intent.
With the introduction of the Corporate Liability provisions, companies can be held accountable for their employees’ involvement in corruption or bribery if they had failed to take adequate steps to prevent such practices.
When this becomes a reality, companies, especially in the private sector, will have no choice but to have anti-corruption programmes in their organisations as initiatives to mitigate and eradicate corrupt practices.
TI-M, meanwhile, has been encouraging companies in the private sector to adopt the ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery Management System as an initiative to put in place all the preventive controls and systems, while getting top managements to commit to eliminate any form of bribery in their organisations.
On the proposed Misconduct for Civil Service Act, any effort or laws to address misconduct resulting in the loss of taxpayers’ money should be lauded.
However, we would like to raise the issue of whether the proposed law should only apply to civil servants. What about instances where orders or instructions come from politicians or persons in elected positions? Should they not be held liable if proven to be involved? Any proposed law should fairly apply to everyone involved in the decision-making process and that includes politicians.
Azam has reportedly said the Auditor General’s Report each year reveals a litany of malpractices in government departments and agencies. Civil servants who are responsible for them should be charged with criminal offences instead of facing mere disciplinary actions under the domestic rules applicable to civil servants.
TI-M supports the new measures proposed by MACC and hopes that the government will give due consideration and support by effecting the necessary changes in the law.
There are enough compelling reasons as to why this should be done with minimum delay and ensure that we plug existing loopholes in our anti-corruption laws.
DATUK AKHBAR SATAR
President, Transparency International Malaysia