Reform MACC before it’s too late, C4 tells govt

 

The MACC advisory board should also play a key role and cooperate fully in assisting any independent investigation into alleged transgressions by its officers.

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) needs to undergo “urgent reform”, the Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) said today.

The NGO also suggested some reform measures that the government should implement in order to “rectify the situation now before our country slides further down the slope of destruction”.

“An independent probe needs to be set up, with experts in financial crime who are not from the MACC, as well as the police and the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NAFCC) taking charge to probe the rising transgressions within the MACC.

“We also urge law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to adopt suggestions we made in our 2015 joint memorandum with the Malaysian Bar,” C4 said in a statement.

The memorandum included a call for an amendment to the MACC Act to enable the creation of an Independent Anti-Corruption Commission.

C4 also suggested that the MACC advisory board play a key role and cooperate fully in assisting any independent investigation into the alleged transgressions by the agency’s officers.

“All these investigations and possible prosecution must also be speeded up to ensure such incidents do not occur again,” C4 said.

Recently, a senior MACC officer was arrested over the alleged theft of US$6 million cash held as evidence in former spy chief Hasanah Ab Hamid’s case. Police later revealed that the officer was also involved in drug trafficking offences.

Yesterday, two MACC officers in Johor were charged at the Johor Bahru sessions court for cheating an individual of RM40,000 to “settle” the latter’s case. - FMT