Law to check graft in private sector to be enforced next year, says lawyer

Corporate lawyer Rosli Dahlan.

KUALA LUMPUR: A corporate lawyer says the government will enforce a provision in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act to check graft in the private sector beginning next year.

In a talk titled “Corporate Liability under the MACC (Amendment) Act 2018: Are Your Procedures Adequate?”, Rosli Dahlan said 20% of corrupt practices are by business and commercial entities which give bribes to civil servants and others.

“Corrupt practices by a director, officer, employee, sub-contractor or even a consultant that benefit the company will be caught under the amendment,” he said.

The event, organised by legal firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, addressed important legal issues for its corporate clients in conjunction with Pakatan Harapan’s one-year anniversary in government.

Tax and customs law practitioner S Saravana Kumar.

Section 17A (1) of the act states that a commercial organisation commits an offence if a person associated with the organisation corruptly gives, promises or offers any gratification to obtain or retain business.

Rosli said even acting to obtain or retain the advantage in the conduct of business is considered an offence.

The law, which will come into force on June 1 next year, will see offenders fined RM1 million or 10 times the value of corruption, and/or handed a jail term.

“A grace period will be given to allow all companies to introduce into their organisations guidelines adequate procedures which include manuals to prevent corrupt practices,” he said.

Rosli said companies must draw up policies on activities such as the hiring of staff, entertainment and gifts to stop staff members from indulging in graft.

“If they fail to do, directors or managers will also be deemed to have committed an offence,” he added.

He said statistics showed that givers are mostly from the private sector while recipients are civil servants.

Tax and customs law practitioner S Saravana Kumar, in his talk titled “Tax Risk Management in a Tax Data Analytics Era”, said the Inland Revenue Board is using new methods to identify defaulters.

“They no longer rely much on newspapers and informers but use tax data analytics to conduct audits,” he said.

Saravana advised businesses and individuals to have a robust tax risk management framework in place to mitigate their tax exposure.

“An integrated approach to tax risk management can be best achieved for example by obtaining the appropriate advice from tax consultants and lawyers,” he added. - FMT