Fighting corruption requires cross-border coordination, 1MDB case cited

 

As corruption gets complicated and transnational, fighting corruption and money laundering cannot be achieved solely by any single institution or economy but requires working together to advance greater collaboration and cross-border coordination.

MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki in his keynote address at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET) held virtually today cited the example of the 1MDB case.

He said the efforts to recover the 1MDB assets had started in 2019 and the United States and Singapore had assisted Malaysia in recovering more than US$3.5 billion (RM14.5 billion) in assets so far.

"The efforts to recover the rest of the assets are still on-going with the assistance of other economies including the United States and Singapore," he added.

Azam said Malaysia pledged its commitment and adhered to the principles of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and as a party, collaborated towards its implementation.

The Malaysian enforcement authorities cooperated through different mechanisms and networks including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Asia-Pacific Group on Money-Laundering (APG), Interpol, Aseanapol and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, he said.

Azam said Malaysia, through the MACC, also actively participated in the Economic Crime Agency Network (Ecan), a formal network of law enforcement agencies from various economies including some from Apec members which were involved primarily in investigating and combating economic crime, including fraud, bribery and corruption.

He said the MACC was also actively involved in the South East Asia Parties Against Corruption and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Forum.

“Malaysia has a strong legal and regulatory framework for asset recovery and demonstrates effective inter-agency coordination leading to international cooperation on asset recovery.

“Malaysia also has bilateral treaties or agreements with a number of economies to facilitate the enforcement of recovery, forfeiture or confiscation orders and may provide mutual legal assistance (MLA) to economies which it has no treaties or agreements just yet,” he added.

Malaysia will be hosting the Ecan next year.

- Bernama