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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Putrajaya, MACC mulling ban on ministers, top officers from government deals

Abu Kassim said the MACC was working to plug the legal loophole that allows top ranking officials to escape charges when their family members are awarded contracts through direct negotiation. — Pictures by Choo Choy MayAbu Kassim said the MACC was working to plug the legal loophole that allows top ranking officials to escape charges when their family members are awarded contracts through direct negotiation. — Pictures by Choo Choy MayPUTRAJAYA, July 23 — Anti-graft authorities are tying up with the Najib administration to look into the possibility of legislating a ban on government officials abusing family ties to bid for lucrative projects, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed has said.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner said it was “high time” to plug the legal loophole that allows top ranking officials to escape charges when their family members are awarded contracts through direct negotiation.
The family members of those in power should be legally barred from such direct government deals, the anti-graft chief said in a recent interview here.
“We believe there should be a kind of regulation in the states or even in Parliament, in ministerial level saying that if you are a minister or chief minister of a state, you should not allow your close family... to (be) involved in applying direct negotiation or land or logging area.”
He said MACC was “communicating” with the government on this matter, adding that efforts were being made to introduce changes to the law.
“That is the technicality that we want the government to look into,” he said.
At present, Abu Kassim explained that those in positions of power — including ministers or chief ministers — could evade power abuse or graft allegations by simply opting out of government meetings where contracts or land awards are decided on.
Only those who failed to declare their family ties with those bidding for these contracts, he said, would be penalised.
“When we investigate, we discover that he did not make that decision, it was done by his subordinate or deputy,” he said when illustrating such cases, adding that the deputy who chaired the decision-making meeting would then award it to the family members.
He explained that many people now exploit what is seen as a legal loophole, successfully avoiding prosecution by virtue of the technicality.
“In the early days, in the 1970s, a lot of people do not know about the rules and these regulations. A lot of people make decisions and they don’t declare, that’s why early days we charged a lot of people,” Abu Kassim said.
“But today, a lot of them know the tricks, know the procedure, so every time when they make a decision, they will declare their interest and go out,” he added.
Abu Kassim said the public should help the MACC to request the government or legislators to make laws to fight corruption.Abu Kassim said the public should help the MACC to request the government or legislators to make laws to fight corruption.Abu Kassim said the public may question why MACC does not investigate and charge government officers in such cases, but added they should instead push the government for legal reforms that would make MACC’s anti-graft fight more effective.
“I will prefer if people ask what more MACC want in terms of legal framework,” he said.
“If the public wants to fight corruption, they have to help us to request the government or legislators to make laws on that.
“Why point the finger at us if the law is insufficient?” he asked.
An example of a recent high-profile case was of former minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s husband and children, whose company was involved in the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal, where part of a RM250 million loan for cattle farming was allegedly abused to finance condominiums and cars.
To date, Shahrizat’s husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who is also the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) executive chairman, has been slapped with two charges of criminal breach of trust for allegedly using over RM9 million of the loan in the partial finance of two units of condominiums.
He was also charged with violating the Companies Act over the transfer of RM40 million from NFCorp to the National Meat and Livestock Corporation.
Their three children, who are directors in the same company, were not charged over the scandal.
The cattle-farming project is under the Agriculture Ministry, while Shahrizat was then the women, family and community development minister.
On May 31, the MACC cleared Shahrizat’s name after questioning her in a probe, saying that she was not involved in the NFC scandal.
MACC operations evaluation panel (PPO) chairman Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil had then said MACC had found that Shahrizat was not involved in the decision-making process to award the RM250 million loan and the contract to NFCorp.
Two months ago, in May, the MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) proposed that all government administrators and their family members at both federal and state levels be barred from bidding for government projects.
The CCPP, which is one of the MACC’s five oversight advisory bodies, made the suggestion after noting that the call to combat corruption had been among the key issues raised during the 13th general election on May 5.
Panel chairman Datuk Johan Jaaffar said the CCPP was of the view that to allay public perception on cronyism in the government, all Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, mentris besar, chief ministers, state executive councillors and their immediate family members should be included in the move.
“The risks of corruption could arise when retiring officers could make use of their public positions to lobby for posts and certain personal benefits when they retire,” he added.
“This proposal is aimed at preventing acts of conflict of interest and to plug loopholes and opportunities that could lead to corruption,” Johan said.
He added that the previous practice whereby any minister, mentri besar or chief minister is absolved from liability by merely leaving a meeting related to an application by a company where his or her family members have an interest in should no longer be made applicable.
“The panel proposes that this be implemented with immediate effect at the federal, state, local government levels and government agencies,” he suggested.
- malaymail

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