Leakage of govt procurement: Chief sec to the govt to discuss with MACC

 

Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali will convene a meeting with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in regards to the allegation of leakage of government procurement involving civil servants.

He said the matter must be addressed immediately for fear that it will slow down the economic recovery process, especially now that the country was still facing the threats of Covid-19.

"So, I will discuss with them what we should do next or the preventive measures that we can take.

"With our economy already showing a slow pace of recovery due to Covid-19, and the leakage of government procurement, I'm worried that our country will not be able to progress as rapidly as we planned," he said at the opening of the new Terengganu MACC Complex at Bandar Baru Bukit Besar, Kuala Terengganu, today.

Apart from that, Mohd Zuki said Malaysia had received various international recognitions in handling Covid-19, including being ranked fourth among 184 countries in the Global Covid-19 Recovery Index as of August 2020, and fifth among 23 countries in the Toluna-Blackbox Index for Perception and Crisis Management.

He said those recognitions proved the determination and commitment of civil servants in translating all the government strategies, such as Penjana and Prihatin initiatives.

"Efforts to revive and revitalise the country's economy require more precise and committed efforts from all civil servants.

"Immediate post-Covid-19 initiatives such as the implementation of high-impact projects and the distribution of aid to the people will certainly be hampered if there are issues of corruption among civil servants themselves," he said.

Meanwhile, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki, who also attended the event, said the MACC had completed the investigation paper on the 2015 property scam in Melbourne, Australia involving a senior officer of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) who is also a former politician.

He said the prosecution of two or three individuals involved was expected to be done in the next two or three weeks.

"To me, this is a high profile case," he said, adding that the MACC had also opened 27 investigation papers on corruption during the Sabah state election last Saturday.

- Bernama