MACC drops cases
February 12, 2010 17:10 PM
Eight High Profile Cases Dropped
By: Ramjit
PUTRAJAYA, Feb 12 (Bernama) — The MACC will not be pressing charges over eight high profile cases the commission investigated, including those involving Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
Mohd Ali was investigated for alleged money politics when contesting the Umno deputy president’s post at the party’s polls last year while Abdul Khalid for allegedly abusing state funds to buy 46 cows to be donated for the Aidiladha sacrifice in his parliamentary constituency, Bandar Tun Razak.
Deputy MACC chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull said, however, there had been no decision yet whether Khalid would be charged over another case where he is alleged to have abused state funds for maintenance of his Lexus car with the registration number WQR779 and that the investigation papers were now with the public prosecutor.
The other cases concerned alleged power abuse by former Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar who suspended Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and six Perak Barisan Nasional (BN) executive councillors from attending state assembly sittings; Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk T. Murugiah (alleged money politics in PPP’s polls); former Penang deputy chief minister Mohamad Fairus Khairuddin (alleged links with illegal quarrying in Penang).
Also dropped were the cases concerning Penang’s Jawi assemblyman Tan Beng Huat (alleged abuse of assemblyman’s allocations); Selangor’s Batu Tiga assemblywoman Rodziah Ismail (alleged abuse of state funds) and two Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) supreme councillors who are alleged to have attempted to bribe Aminah Abdullah, an independent candidate in the Penanti by-election.
Mohd Shukri said the public prosecutor decided not to pursue the cases against the eight after evaluating the investigation papers submitted by the MACC.
“MACC’s Operations Review Panel has been updated as to why the cases cannot be pursued and all the panel’s seven members are satisfied with the explanation provided by both the MACC and the public prosecutor,” he told reporters here on Friday.
Mohd Shukri, however, said this did not mean that all of the cases were entirely free of corruption, but lack of witnesses and evidence prevented the commission from building “air tight” cases to enable conviction.
“Evidence available must be able to meet the 90 per cent requirement needed for prosecution, only then can the prosecution proceed to press charges. The public prosecutor cannot bring a case that is weak to court,” he said.
As such, he urged anyone with evidence on the eight cases to come forward and help the MACC to build cases that could lead to conviction.
He said these cases could be reopened if fresh witnesses or evidence was made available.
Asked about other high profiLe cases including those that inVolved former Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina binti Othman Said, PPP president Datuk M Kayveas and the one relating to the Middle Ring Road 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Mohd Shukri said the investigations had been completed and forwarded to the public prosecutor to decide whether charges should be pressed.
– BERNAMA
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MACC closes file on 8 high-profile cases
Husna Yusop
The Sun
PUTRAJAYA (Feb 12, 2010) : Eight high-profile cases investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), including those involving Malacca chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, have been closed.MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull said the decision not to bring those cases to court was taken by its Deputy Public Prosecutor after reviewing the investigation reports conducted based on evidence and witness statements.
“All cases which have been decided as such were referred to the Operations Review Panel. We explained to them why they can’t be charged in court. And all seven panel members were satisfied with the explanation given either by the MACC or the Legal and Prosecution Division,” he told a press conference at the MACC headquarters here today.
Mohd Ali was investigated for alleged money politics during the party election last year when he was vying for the Umno deputy president’s post while Abdul Khalid was investigated for allegedly misusing state funds to buy 46 cows during Hari Raya Haji for his Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary constituency.
However, the allegation against Abdul Khalid for alleged misuse of government money for the maintenance of his Lexus car is not finalised although the investigation paper has been submitted to the prosecution division.
Other cases closed were alleged misuse of power by former Perak Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar for suspending Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and six other exco members from attending the state legislative assembly meeting, alleged corruption case of Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T. Murugiah during its PPP party election and alleged corruption by former Penang Deputy Chief Minister Mohd Fairus Khairuddin who was associated with illegal quarry activities.
The rests were that of Jawi state assemblyperson Tan Beng Huat who was alleged to have wrongly used allocations to buy electrical goods, Batu Tiga assemblywoman Rodziah Ismail for alleged misuse of state government money and two Parti Keadilan Rakyat Supreme Council members who were alleged to have bribed Penanti Independent candidate Aminah Abdullah.
Mohd Shukri however said closing a case did not mean the person accused was free from corrupt activities because sometimes, the MACC could not build a strong case to stand up in court, due to lack of witness and evidence.
“The evidence that we have must achieve at least 90%, then only our prosecution division can decide to prosecute. So, not all cases that were not charged are free from elements of corruption,” he added.
No to Gutter Politics. Tolak Politik Durjana
Salam sejahtera.
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Sila sebarkan. Terima kasih.
Shahrir Abdul Samad, has slammed the government…set the record straight… the RM28 billion ‘wastes’ annually…
“Once an issue has been made public, the government has an obligation to respond clearly and quickly,” he said.
He was speaking to Malaysiakini after launching the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca)’s news portal Konsumerkini and their Campaign for Mindful Consumption in Petaling Jaya, Selangor today.
Shahrir (left) was referring to an article that appeared in The Star last October which said that excessive payments for government contracts could reach RM28 million a year.The estimate was made assuming an overpayment of 20 percent
for the contracts.
Auditor general queried
According to the Johor Bahru MP, his queries to the auditor general and the Public Accounts Committee revealed the figure to be ‘erroneous’.
“Where did they get this figure from? 20 percent of certain projects is not the same as 20 percent of the development expenditure budget,” said the former Public Accounts Committee chairperson.
Failure to rectify the figure, he added, has led the public to take it as the truth.
“Even opposition leaders are using this figure in Parliament,” he said.
Shahrir also lambasted the Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah for not giving a clear picture of the issue.
In the article, Ahmad Husni fell short of providing a solid figure, and instead admitted that the government suffered ‘a lot’ from over estimated contracts.
“When people see his name there, it lends credibility to the article and this feeds into the ‘charade’,” he said.
The government’s silence on the matter ‘alludes that it is confirmed’, especially when the story is read alongside the AG’s report.
The report, released in last October highlighted numerous instances where the government overpaid for contracts, although the total amount was not tabulated.
Anwar denounces sodomy trial as corrupt
By Conor Duffy in Bangkok
Posted 6 hours 20 minutes ago ABC Online
Former Malaysian Deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim has labled charges against him as machinations of a corrupt few. (AAP: Dean Lewins, file photo)
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has appeared in court on sodomy charges, threatening to subpoena the country’s prime minister.
When entering the court room Anwar labelled the charges against him dirty machinations of a corrupt few.
He claimed the charges were a conspiracy designed to sabotage the political process.
Anwar alleged prime minister Najib Razak met with his accuser shortly before a police report was filed.
He also threatened to subpoena Mr Razak and his wife as witnesses.
Anwar faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
He previously served six years on charges that were later overturned.
First Female Mayor
First female mayor saw plenty of ups, downs
By Bill Torpy and Eric Stirgus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mayor Shirley Franklin came into office eight years ago like a bolt of optimism for a fatigued city, a gust of fresh air blowing away the stench of corruption.
AJC file, AJC Shirley Franklin was seen as a breath of fresh air when she became the first woman to become Atlanta mayor. State Rep. Calvin Smyre welcomed her at her star-studded 2002 inauguration ball. Eight years later, times are leaner, and her successor has nixed an inaugural ball. In Franklin’s final press conference, however, she said the budget was balanced.
Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com Franklin received many pointed questions. In what might be her final press conference as Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin was in rare form. Refusing to answer questions about the problems she faced in office and even refusing to comment on her legacy. She said that would be for the people and media to decide. Because she is moving on. But as combative and wild as it was, she did it with a smile.
Seen as an antidote to later-imprisoned Bill Campbell, the bleached-blond dynamo promised Atlanta would be “safer, more efficient, open, honest and straightforward.”
With her trademark flower perpetually pinned to her lapel, Franklin went to work on big projects and policies, from an overhaul of city sewers to digging the city out of a hefty deficit. Her plucky, can-do credo won fans across the city and she skated to re-election.
Then came Franklin’s second term. A massive deficit seemed to appear out of nowhere and high-profile crimes grabbed headlines even as she and her embattled police chief assured the public crime was dropping.
Over the past two years, her once sky-high popularity faded like a week-old gardenia, and the 2009 mayoral election became in part a referendum on her stewardship.
Her candidate won — barely.
On Monday, the mayor once seen as “Super Shirley” leaves office as a mere mortal.
The 64-year-old Franklin, who will soon begin teaching at Spelman College on the “challenges of urban civic leadership,” repeatedly declined to talk about her time in office. Asked recently by an AJC reporter for some time to talk about her terms in office, Franklin smiled, shook his hand and said, “Not a chance.”
Minutes later, she repeated that to the entire Atlanta press corps.
“I will not speak about my legacy,” she said during a contentious news conference last month. “When it is over, you are going to know when it’s over and move on. It’s over.”
Franklin will be remembered as a mayor who thought big, inspired women and restored faith in City Hall. But she also was a mayor who tried but couldn’t completely turn the corner on some of Atlanta’s long-standing problems, including homelessness, crime and tangled finances.
“Her first four years were much stronger than her last four,” said “Able” Mabel Thomas, a former City Council member and state legislator. “I’d have to give her good marks. But Atlanta is such a dynamic city that just good enough is not good enough.”
‘Open, direct, refreshing’
The pugnacious style of Franklin’s native Philadelphia coupled with a competent and confident charisma endeared her to many Atlantans, both in the inner-city neighborhoods and in the office suites. Whether at community forums or power lunches, the mayor held sway. This was an impressive attribute, said former City Councilman Lee Morris.
“It’s tough to be everybody’s mayor, given the great divide in Atlanta of race, class and partisanship,” he said.
Atlanta’s first female mayor took office with a blur of activity and achievement. Her Pothole Posse smoothed crumbling streets and showed residents that she focused on the basics. Greeted with an $80 million deficit, she guided the city back into the black, eliminating 1,000 city jobs. She built momentum to push through a decades-delayed $4 billion overhaul of the city’s water and sewer system.
It was an impressive list for a woman who called herself “an accidental politician, an unintentional mayor.”
“She was open and direct and quite refreshing,” said Angelo Fuster, who, like Franklin, worked for former mayors Maynard Jackson and Andy Young. “She took political risks in raising taxes and raising sewer rates. That set a tone.”
Like many women who dealt with her, Pearl Johnson, chair of Neighborhood Planning Unit J in west Atlanta, thought highly of the outgoing mayor.
“I was happy to see a female point of view [in the mayor’s office],” Johnson said. “She stood for what she thought was the best for the city. She was a strong mayor.”
But Franklin was an administrator by trade, not a politician, and never concerned herself with building rapport with the City Council.
Councilman H. Lamar Willis compared her tenure to that of Young, who let Franklin handle day-to-day operations, freeing him to work on grand ideas.
“Rarely did Mayor Franklin lobby [council members] for a vote,” he said. “She thought she came to the table with her best thinking or her team’s best thinking.”
Her most effective lobbying, Willis said, came by using the media to get her message across.
Political, personal trials
Franklin was lauded in Time and Newsweek magazines and received the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award in 2005 from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation because of her “willingness to make the difficult and unpopular decisions necessary for good governance.” But she was often prickly with reporters, firing off testy, late-night e-mails challenging their stories.
Fuster, who as communications chief for Campbell dealt regularly with a hostile media, chuckled at Franklin’s testiness at her final news conference. “To this day, the press has gone easy on her,” he said.
The mayor’s public demeanor soured after her daughter, Kai Franklin Graham, pleaded guilty in 2007 to illegally structuring financial transactions for her ex-husband, a drug trafficker now serving life. Her daughter avoided a prison term.
That event occurred between the deaths of the mayor’s mother, Ruth Lyons White, and her ex-husband, David Franklin, her longtime confidant.
“It was almost an avalanche at the end,” said former Councilman Derrick Boazman. “It was both personal and professional [problems] at the end.”
Franklin could get rough when needed, he said, reminiscing on the 2003 battle over rebuilding the sewer and water system. At the time, sewers continually fouled streams and rivers and Atlanta was routinely fined by federal government.
Boazman, a leader of a council bloc that stymied the overhaul, said planned bill increases were excessive, especially for the poor and elderly. In a press conference, he called the stand-off “high-stakes poker.”
The mayor upped the ante — opposition council members’ bosses and associates started getting phone calls. “They called their law firms, their architectural firms, their businesses; I never saw that before,” recalled Boazman. “To have someone call your business and say, ‘You’re a hold-out,’ well, that was new. I said they are putting too much pressure on us.”
In the end, the two sides settled and the city paid for the massive project through loans, water rate increases and raising the sales tax rate.
A reluctant politician
Franklin’s political touch often was not deft. In 2006, rogue narcotics officers killed a 92-year-old woman while illegally raiding her home. Two weeks later, the mayor supported a $10,000 pension fund increase for Chief Richard Pennington, a move voted down by the council and roundly criticized.
While major crime statistics have fallen — as they have in many big cities — Pennington has been criticized by residents, council members and police officers as being aloof and out-of-touch. In the past year, high-profile killings, random robberies and brazen burglaries have continued, increasing calls for the mayor to fire Pennington. But she defended her chief until the end, even as crime dominated the recent election.
Last January, Franklin announced yet another effort to hire more police officers and reach a long-sought goal of 2,000 by the end of her term. That pledge, though, coincided with a city budget crisis that included employee furloughs, a tax hike and layoffs. The 2,000 figure is still a dream.
Police union leader Lt. Scott Kreher, one of Franklin’s harshest critics, acknowledged that crime is down, but said the demolition of Atlanta’s public housing may be the chief reason. “We’ll see the true reflection in crime in the next few years.”
Aaron Turpeau, who worked under Jackson and on both of Franklin’s campaigns, gives her high marks, even on crime and budget issues.
“The boom of the population was tremendous during her administration and the city looks different today,” he said. “In the end, the economy caught her.”
Turpeau said the mayor’s friends have urged her to talk publicly about her achievements but she won’t.
“She’s not bitter; she’s not angry,” he said. “She insists the story will speak for itself. She had a social worker’s mindset; she just wanted to get things done.”
‘Revisionist history’?
Part of Franklin’s success in office was that no scent of corruption followed her, as it had her predecessor, Campbell, who went to prison along with a dozen other city officials and contractors.
“There was a mythology about her for doing basic things,” said Emory University political science Professor Michael Leo Owens. Much of that feel-good story line dissipated last year, as candidates for her job picked over her record.
“She tackled some tough issues that weren’t popular,” said Morris, the former councilman. “But the sewer issue was a little overstated [in significance]. It is a bit revisionist history.”
Morris was Campbell’s most ardent critic. But, he acknowledged, “the guy did rebuild the R.M. Clayton treatment plant without it ever closing, which was no small feat.” In addition, he added, the Indian Creek and Peachtree Creek relief sewer projects were largely completed under Campbell.
But Campbell left Franklin a budget mess. She said she will not do that to her successor. In her final press conference, she said the budget was balanced. This came after eliminating about 1,800 jobs in the past two years and cutting the budget almost to its 2002 level.
Unfinished business
It may be that her legacy is still in the making. In a speech last year, Franklin said, “I have sought the tradition of looking beyond the here and now.”
Construction of the Beltline, a development envisioned along old rail lines seen as Atlanta’s biggest project in years, is just beginning. The international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is scheduled to be finished by 2012. Her successor lobbied the White House last month for $300 million to begin another of her goals: a streetcar line along Peachtree Street. And even the sewer project isn’t done yet.
“She has taken on some Olympic-sized visions and dreams that might be good for the city,” Councilman Willis said. “It’s up to us what we do with it.”
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Meet the reporters
Bill Torpy, who writes about metro Atlanta for the Sunday AJC, joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1990. He covered former Mayor Bill Campbell’s corruption trial and the 2006 police shooting of Kathryn Johnston, among many other stories involving City Hall. A native of Chicago, he learned about politics early; his uncle was one of the most productive precinct captains on the city’s South Side. Torpy is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., and previously worked for the Daily Southtown in Chicago.
Eric Stirgus has been covering metro Atlanta governments and politics for eight years. For the past two years, his beat has been Atlanta’s City Hall, including the City Council and the administration of Mayor Shirley Franklin. He covered this year’s election for Franklin’s successor, one of the most closely watched mayor’s races in the nation. Before arriving at the AJC, Eric reported for the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the St. Petersburg Times. He graduated from New York University in 1994.
Malaysia plunge in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI)
Heads must roll – starting with the resignation of the MACC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Said – for Malaysia’s worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score in past 15 years
Heads must roll – starting with the resignation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan – for Malaysia’s worst single-year plunge in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking and score since the introduction of TI’s annual CPI in the past 15 years.
Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking and score from 1995 to 2009, which ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt), are as follows:
Year CPI Rank CPI score 1995 23 5.28 1996 26 5.32 1997 32 5.01 1998 29 5.3 1999 32 5.1 2000 36 4.8 2001 36 5.0 2002 33 4.9 2003 37 5.2 2004 39 5.0 2005 39 5.1 2006 44 5.0 2007 43 5.1 2008 47 5.1 2009 56 4.5 In the nine years from 1995 to 2003, Tun Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister saw Malaysia’s TI CPI score stuck in the narrow groove between 4.8 in 2000 to 5.32 in 1996 while the CPI ranking fell 14 places from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 in 2003.
In the five-year premiership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking fell 10 places from 37 in 2003 to 47 placing in 2008, while CPI score stuck between 5.0 to 5.1.
In his seven months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presided over the worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score, i.e. a nine-placing fall from No. 47 last year to No. 56, with the score plunging to the lowest ever of 4.5, when in the past 15 years, Malaysia had only twice fell below the score of 5, viz: 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002.
The National Integrity Plan, launched in 2004 with the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s TI CPI from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008 and the 5.2 CPI score for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008 is an utter failure, and nobody in government now dares to even mention this five-year National Integrity Plan 2004-2008.
I have given notice to the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin to move a motion of urgent definite public importance tomorrow on Malaysia’s worst ranking and score in the TI CPI 2009 for the past 15 years.
My motion states:
“Malaysia plunged nine places from last year’s 47th CPI ranking to 56th position while Malaysia CPI index score plunged to the lowest in 15 years to 4.5 when Malaysia’s previous worst scores below 5 were 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002.
“This is the worse drop both in CPI ranking and score for Malaysia for any single year since the introduction of annual CPI by TI in 1995, when Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries, with a score of 5.28.
“This is a national shame, an indictment of the newly-formed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and a major blow for the new premiership of YAB MP for Pekan who had declared that the fight against corruption was one of the six KPI priorities of his administration.
“The mysterious death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16 at MACC headquarters and the failure of MACC to prosecute and convict offenders in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone and the Lingam Videotape scandals are major factors for Malaysia’s worst-ever TI CPI ranking and score.
“This is confirmed by the TI statement accompanying its CPI 2009 report on the perception of ‘little progress combating corruption and a lack of political will to implement effective anti-corruption measures’ as well as the MACC’s ‘focus on ‘small fish’ and opposition politicians.
“Parliament must urgently debate the TI CPI 2009 ranking and score for Malaysia to take urgent and remedial measures to check the country going down the road of a failed state in continuing to lose out in international competitiveness because of failure of institutional reforms particularly in the war against corruption and abuses of power.” – Lim Kit Siang
Ada Rakyat kata, MACC tangkap ikan bilis saja
BN MP, DAP aide face charges in major MACC swoop
By Leslie Lau
Consultant Editor
Wong (centre) is believed to be one of the five hauled up by the MACC. — file pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — A Barisan Nasional (BN) MP and an aide to a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government executive councillor will be among five people to be charged tomorrow for graft, in what is a major move by the MACC to regain public confidence.
A former aide to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, who was sacked from his post also faces charges.
In a statement this evening, the Malaysian Anti–Corruption Commission (MACC) listed down some details of the five who will be charged in four separate cases.
The MACC, however, did not directly name any of those to be charged tomorrow.
Besides the BN lawmaker and the DAP aide — believed to be Wong Chuan How, the special assistant to Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu — the other three are a former aide to the Selangor mentri besar, a company director and an assistant to the BN man.
According to the MACC statement, the BN MP is a former state assemblyman. He was arrested today along with his assistant.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the BN lawmaker is from Umno.
“The former assemblyman who is now a member of parliament was arrested for the offence of presenting invoices with fake details, when he was a state assemblyman in Selangor, to implement a programme that did not occur. The assistant was arrested for conspiring with him,” the MACC said.
The special assistant from DAP, understood to be Wong, will be charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1997 and the Penal Code.
He will be charged for presenting fake invoices to the Sepang District Office for the supply of unspecified goods for a 2008 Merdeka programme. The DAP man faces an additional two charges of criminal breach of trust.
According to the MACC, the former assistant to the Selangor MB Khalid was arrested today for an offence under the Penal Code.
He is alleged to have cheated the president of a Selangor government-linked company over the financing of a state function. The sum involved in the alleged cheating is RM50,000.
The fifth person facing a graft charge tomorrow is a company director. He is alleged to have presented fake invoices to the Hulu Langat District Office for the supply of equipment for programmes in the Teratai state constituency.
By charging together politicians from both BN and PR, the MACC appears to be giving the impression that it is even-handed.
The move also comes in the wake of criticisms that the MACC is biased against opposition politicians.
But with the Teoh Beng Hock inquest still continuing, the MACC still faces an uphill battle in trying to prove its independence.
Its predecessor, the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) had also charged personalities linked to the BN government within months of then-prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi taking office.
Former Cabinet minister Kasitah Gadam and Eric Chia, a businessman with strong ties to the BN government, were both hauled up to face charges.
After lengthy trials, both men were eventually acquitted.
It is likely to take several successful prosecutions before Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration can convince a sceptical public.
Malaysian Insider
Talk only…Dari dulupun cakap je…
Be firm on corruption
WHILE some will applaud the prime minister’s realistic stand on corruption, others even from among his supporters will think that the stand is not strong enough. While promising that the task force will investigate the serious cases highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report and serious action will be taken against the wrongdoers, Datuk Seri Najib Razak clarifies that the action may be administrative and not necessarily legal.
The setting up of a government task force comprising the country’s top civil servants to investigate the wrongdoings of government departments and the civil servants managing them may be seen as innovative but the fight against corruption and its perpetrators is not.
The fact that the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have been actively involved, especially recently, in bringing to book those involved in bribery and corruption both in the public and private sectors shows that the authorities are indeed starting to seriously walk the talk. The fact that more people, including the whistle-blowers, are coming forward to report on real and perceived cases of abuse of power and authority shows that the public want a cleaner, corruption-free society.
Granted the task force is set up to investigate the abuses and wrongdoings unearthed in the Auditor-General’s Report. It is only right that government servants are assessed against the rules that bind them in their duties and responsibilities. It is only fair that the action taken against those found guilty of committing a clear breach of trust be commensurate with the regulations that are in place.
However, one must bear in mind that the chain of wrongdoing is long and entangling. Government departments buy products and equipment or obtain the services and consultancy of parties in the private sector. Granted there will be those who are unknowingly or naively roped in by the unscrupulous businessmen and contractors. But there are an equal number of people who act with their eyes open and their palms outstretched and ready to be greased.
In order to be dead serious in the fight against corruption, the government must not be seen to be soft and compromising, especially with their officers whose duty it is to serve the people – not hoodwink or rob them. If the top leadership is seen as being compassionate in order to win hearts and minds, the public thinking and tidak apa attitude will not change.
Malaysians need to be jolted out of their apathy and lackadaisical attitude towards morality and accept responsibility for the society that they themselves have created.
Halimah Mohd Said
Kuala Lumpur
Global Corruption Report: Malaysia among corrupt nations where bribes total US$40 billion! (updated)
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| KUALA LUMPUR – Corruption remains a top scourge in Malaysia, where nearly half of the corporate respondents in a survey admitting to having paid bribes or knowing someone who had done so.
The South-East Asian nation is not alone in this dilemma, where precious funds are being bled and siphoned away from the system, helping to perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty where the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer.
And companies there have supplied bribes estimated at up to US$40 billion annually to corrupt politicians and government officials. “The government has recognised the problem and promised to curb corruption, but results have so far not met the expectations,” Paul Low, president of Transparency International Malaysia, told a press conference unveiling GCR. “Ultimately, it is citizens who has to bear the brunt. Consumers around the world were overcharged approximately US$300 billion through almost 300 private international cartels discovered from 1990 to 2005,” he said. Corruption the No 2 obstacle in Malaysia In Malaysia, business leaders rank corruption as the second most problematic factor for doing business in the country, with 47% of corporate respondents in the Transparency International Malaysia Transparency Perception Survey 2007 admitting to having bribed someone or knowing someone who had done so, mainly to avoid inconvenience. Revolving doors between public office and the private sector, another practice documented in the report, provide a smooth path to deceitful public procurement deals where non-competitive bidding and opaque processes lead to immense waste and unreliable services or goods, Paul said. Many of the countries found at the bottom of TI’s yearly Corruption Perceptions Index – which measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption in over 170 countries – are not only victim to unscrupulous governments but to major firms that are more than willing to enter into corrupt deals with these governments. These intricate webs, involving more than simple bribes, are possible because companies believe that they can get away with such criminal practices. “Society believes that nothing can be done. There is a sense of hopelessness and the people entrusted with the authority and power to change things are not committed or are unable to do so,” said Paul. “It also does not help that the anti-graft body have time and again failed to catch the ‘big fish’ who are said to be the real culprits behind graft cases.” - Malaysian Mirror |
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According to the Global Corruption Report 2009 published by Transparency International, corruption is most rampant in developing and transition countries. ———————————————————————————————————
Another opinion:
Friday, September 25, 2009
TI Report: The Right Step Forward for Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng
Global corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI), has ranked Malaysia as the 47th least corrupt nation in the world and commended the island state of Penang for its anti-corruption efforts. The results is disappointing. The country should strive to be ranked among the top 10 if it wants to attract more investment.
The CPI is part of TI’s Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2009 released yesterday.
In its report on Malaysia, TI highlighted the Malaysian practice of the “revolving door” whereby individuals move from government to business, or business to politics, and back again, and estimated that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 billion a year.
“Significant government participation in the private sector and considerable business participation in politics means that the movement of gatekeepers to players and players to gatekeepers has a negative influence on the concept of checks and balances,” said TI.
“The complexity of the relationships between politics and the public and private sectors means that corruption may take place with impunity. Until drastic action is taken to separate the cosy relationship between government, business and politics, the anti-corruption effort will remain no more than a token gesture,” said TI.
It also recognised the state government’s directive barring administrators and state executive councillors from making any new land applications and efforts to attract professionals to serve on various boards, such as the Penang State Appeals Board.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng says he is “humbled” by the recognition by TI and added that he was concerned over the fact that that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 billion a year – an amount equivalent to 1 or 2 per cent of GDP as pointed out by the GCR when it cited the findings of the special government business facilitation task force Pemudah and the World Bank.
He added that the two local authorities in Penang are expected to save another RM34 million over three years from a “transparent” negotiation over the price of solid waste disposal that reduced the rates agreed to by the previous Barisan Nasional administration by a further 42.4 per cent.
Corruption is the mother of all ills in this country. I would like to commend CM Lim for a job well done. His administration has taken the right step forward to ensure a better accountability of public funds.
In contrast, PAS Selangor State Exco Dr Hasan Ali has taken the exact opposite action in trying to undermine the effort of Selcat to investigate abuse of public funds. Agencies, departments and ministries which tasked with the responsibility of managing the taxpayers’ money must be subjected to a strict due diligence.
The PKFZ fiasco is a prime example of a lack of such mechanism and financial discipline.
Lim also today announced that the state has managed to cut about RM36 million or 12 per cent of in operating expenditure this year due to its efforts to curb corruption.
Kudos to CM Lim and rotten eggs for Hasan.
- Khoo Kay Peng’s Straight Talk
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