Hassan said the failure to improve on Malaysia’s CPI ranking and score, in the annual report by Transparency International (TI), was disheartening given that combating corruption was among the unity government’s key agenda, alongside poverty eradication.
“Corruption remains rampant. Take, for example, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) arrest of multiple customs department officers,” the outspoken PKR MP told FMT.
He also pointed to corruption cases involving officers in the immigration department, particularly in relation to human trafficking, and the road transport department (JPJ).
“The police are also not spared from these corruption allegations. It is no secret that its image has been tainted by bribery.”
A number of officers with the customs department, immigration department, JPJ and police had been charged in 2024 with corruption.
Some of the biggest cases involved human trafficking and smuggling syndicates, implicating customs and immigration officers.
The 2024 CPI saw Malaysia scoring 50 points and ranking 57th last year, the same score and position it achieved the previous year.
The CPI uses a scale of 0 (perceived as being highly corrupted) to 100 (perceived as being very clean).
Malaysia scored 50 points in 2023, 47 in 2022, 48 in 2021 and 51 in 2020.
Putrajaya has set a goal to be among the top 25 countries on the CPI by 2033.
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) attributed the stagnant ranking and score to several factors, including the slow pace of institutional reforms by the government and high-profile cases where the accused were granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
The DNAAs and the revision of jail terms and fines for convictions by the apex court created the perception of political interference, the anti-graft group had said.
Hassan agreed, saying the halving of Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence and reduction of his RM210 million fine to RM50 million in the SRC International case did not set a good example when the former prime minister had already been convicted of corruption.
“What message does this send to public servants and corporate leaders?” he asked.
The two-term MP also criticised the attorney-general’s decision to discontinue prosecution in high-profile cases, including the 47 graft charges against deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi despite a prima facie case being established.
He pointed out that Zahid’s acquittal in another case involving 40 charges was also upheld by the Court of Appeal after the prosecution withdrew its appeal.
Hassan said these decisions had damaged the perception of Malaysia’s legal and judicial system. “That is why Malaysia’s corruption index score is stagnant.”
‘You can’t be selective in combating graft’
Separately, Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal claimed that Malaysia’s CPI score was stagnant because the government was selective in combating corruption.
He said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has failed to convince the global community of Malaysia’s commitment to fighting graft, particularly after a Bloomberg report claimed he had interfered with probes into a former aide.
“The prime minister denied these claims but such allegations fuel corruption perceptions,” the Bersatu Supreme Council member said.
Wan Fayhsal also slammed Anwar for failing to implement genuine institutional reforms despite commanding more than two-thirds majority support in the Dewan Rakyat. - FMT
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