Hard to prove politicians paid to switch parties - MACC chief

 

MACC investigation into reports alleging that politicians were offered money to switch sides could not find conclusive evidence that a bribe was paid.

This is according to a news portal's report quoting the anti-graft agency chief Azam Baki.

While MACC did receive reports on such alleged incidents and conducted investigations into them, Azam (above) said it was hard to prove.

"I do not deny that the MACC has received reports in relation to politicians being offered money to switch parties, but it cannot be proved that money had been paid in any of these cases," he said, as reported by Free Malaysia Today. 

The top graft buster added that this is why MACC supported the idea of having a law on political funding.

According to Azam, it is hard to differentiate between political funds and bribes, and by enacting such a law the country can ensure that political parties do not accept illegal funds.

Law on political funding

At this juncture, Malaysia has yet to have a law that prevents or deter party hopping activities. A bill to deal with the matter is only expected to be tabled in Parliament in the next parliamentary sitting.

While political financing regulation has been debated in Malaysia for many years, with many anti-corruption proponents pushing different administrations to enact a law that deals with the matter.

A law on political funding was first proposed in 2015, after the 1MDB scandal and allegations that the then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak received US$681 million (RM2.9 billion) into his personal accounts.

However, the BN-era bill was never brought to Parliament.

The closest Malaysia got to such a law was when Pakatan Harapan took over federal power in 2018 and they promised to table the Political Financing Bill in Parliament.

However, the administration seemed to also be dragging their feet on the matter, for which they were criticised, until they fell in February 2020 due to a political coup. - Mkini