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The case of a former Immigration director-general (DG) being sentenced to six years prison and fined RM300,000 by the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur is a stern warning to all civil servants that they will eventually have to face the consequences of their own doing, if they continue to accept bribes.

According to Bernama, the former DG had accepted a RM60,000 bribe to approve 4,337 visas applications for Bangladesh workers. Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) praises the good judge for issuing a severe punishment on the former DG, and for dismissing the application for a stay of execution pending appeal.

If it has been proven that the former DG had accepted the bribe, he should be prepared to face the subsequent consequences; therefore, corruption does not pay. Based on the judge’s findings, the defence was “an afterthought and merely a fabricated denial.” This is a very serious offence.

Our TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2013 will be released on Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013. It is important to note that our CPI surveys take into account not only about comparing bribes being reported, the number of prosecutions or corruption court cases but also how effective prosecutions and the courts are and the media in investigating and exposing corruption.

In this case, both the Sessions Court and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have done a good job. The court must continue to impose more severe sentences; if possible, a maximum sentence must be meted out to deter others from getting involved in corruption.

The message must be clear: that the price one has to pay is hefty, if one continues to be involved in corruption.

In another case highlighted recently, involving a former CEO of an Iskandar Investment Berhad’s (IIB) subsidiary company, TI-M hopes to see the MACC prosecution counsel to work hard at another victory.

The case involved the former CEO accepting a RM400,000 bribery in return for approving the Kampung Sungai Pendas Laut road development project. The project involves the construction of an alternative road in Kampung Sungai Pendas Laut worth about RM2.7 million in 2011.

Corruption is the reason why the cost of projects has always escalated, and this has to be stopped. Corruption hurts everyone!

TI-M here again urges the MACC to up its ante and meet public expectation. The public has rightfully pointed out that for an entire period from 2009 to 2013, the MACC had spent a total of over RM983 million but only managed to recoup RM16 million within the same period. While it is understandable that it is not easy to prove bribery as it happens, MACC should step up its

efforts to go for the bigger fish. Power corrupts still hold true in any country.

TI-M fully agrees with MACC that we should work together as the national coalition against corruption. Our goals and objectives are the same - stop corruption!

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