The ball has finally started rolling with regard to the national consultative committee on political funding, with its first meeting set to commence next month.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low, who chairs this committee, said that a technical team, consisting of experts from government agencies such as the Registrar of Societies (ROS), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Finance Ministry, has been set up.

“This technical team will be preparing the details and the research.

“We will be having the first meeting sometime in early November,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

The team will also discuss details and outlines on areas that they will have to consider.

“It (the committee) is getting along fine. It took a longer time initially because we had to set up the supporting research and appoint various people in certain positions,” he said.

The committee, formed in August, is tasked with formulating a plan to regulate political funding in the run-up to the next general election.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced the formation of the committee as well as the plan after coming under intense pressure over the RM2.6 billion 'political funding' deposited into his personal bank accounts.

Suppliers targeted too

On another matter, Low said he was preparing to raise in cabinet the requirement that government suppliers sign the corporate integrity pledge (CIP).

“I’m trying to get the government to require that every government supplier sign the integrity pledge as the beginning of their commitment not to pay bribes.

“It is also a commitment that they will begin to put in a compliance system in their companies," he said.

He will, however, have to first introduce this to the Finance Ministry before proposing it to the cabinet.

“But it’s a step that I believe is in the right direction,” he said.

As for the corporate liability bill, Low said it was still being looked into, with the hope that it would get enacted.

“I will have to see. But not during this parliamentary session […] maybe during the first session in 2016,” he said, when asked as to when the bill will be brought to Parliament.

The corporate liability bill provides for companies to also be liable when an employee engages in bribery.