Salary caps don’t remove power of top jobs, says anti-graft group

 

Anti-corruption campaigners Pushpan Murugiah (left) and Edmund Terence Gomez say more needs to be done to tackle corruption in government agencies.

PETALING JAYA: 

An anti-graft watchdog says that a call by the Public Accounts Committee to impose salary caps on heads of federal statutory bodies will not tackle corruption within these organisations.

Pushpan Murugiah, CEO of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism told FMT that the salary cap could reduce the value of such high-ranking positions as platforms for self-enrichment. It could also help end the practice of political appointments, and 

rampant

 political financing.

However, he said such positions of power will remain desirable because of the control appointees will have over the financial decisions of these companies. 

These positions come with the ability to lobby for government contracts, the proceeds of which can still be channelled to shell companies beneficially owned by politicians or politicians’ family members,

 he said.

He said more must be done to tackle corruption at its root, such as introducing a political financing law that regulates the income and expenditure of all political parties transparently.

The suggestion for salary caps on heads of federal statutory bodies came from Public Accounts Committee chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin on Monday. She said there is no such ceiling currently.

Anti-graft activist Edmund Terence Gomez said the call was made as a reaction to recent discussions regarding the use of funds by Mara Inc and Felcra.

The auditor-general’s latest report showed that Felcra owed the government RM3.67 billion at the end of 2021, with the report also revealing that Mara Inc had incurred RM286.3 million in losses since its establishment in 2014.

Gomez told FMT the committee should be more concerned about allegations of corruption surrounding federal statutory bodies, rather than the salaries paid to CEOs and managing directors. PAC should also focus on the larger issue of the appointment of people leading federal statutory bodies.

He said: 

PAC’s focus should be on what contributed to the corruption that we are seeing among not just these bodies, but a whole range of statutory bodies, which we have seen in the recent past.

On Aug 9, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the auditor-general should be stricter with all agencies and federal statutory bodies to avoid violations of governance and corruption.

He said the government would also look into the possibility of providing additional allocations to expand the audit monitoring mechanism to federal, state and local authorities.

Anwar said this was to ensure that the operations of government agencies or statutory bodies are more transparent, to avoid corruption and acts of profit-making. - FMT