The effectiveness of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) is now in question with Transparency International's (TI) report that the zone has a high risk of corruption, said a PKR lawmaker.

PKR's Bukit Katil MP Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin was commenting on TI’s Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index 2015 specifically highlighting that Esscom had a high risk of corruption.

"This is very worrying because Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has allocated a huge sum of RM523 million in Budget 2016 for Esscom.

"If this is combined with the allocation from 2014 and 2015, the total amount given to Esscom is RM1.3 billion.

"The question arises whether Esscom would be effective even though they have been allocated a lot of funds, in a situation where there is an extremely high risk of corruption in operations control," Shamsul said in a statement last night.

He warned that this is a matter of the country's border security and the slightest blunder could pose a security risk to the country's sovereignty, especially in the Esscom area.

Shamsul said he has also raised TI's suggestion to form a Parliament-level commission to survey the country's acquisition of defence assets in Parliament.

However, he lamented he has yet to receive an answer from the prime minister.

TI also suggested the government announce its defence spending in detail to the public and to increase anti-corruption measures in the defence sector.

Shamsul urged Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein to comment on the findings of TI's index and to follow-up on anti-corruption measures in the defence sector.

"The lives and sovereignty of the rakyat are being threatened by the high risk of corruption in the defence sector," said the PKR MP.

TI this year gave Malaysia an overall score of Grade D in their corruption index, which is a slight improvement from its previous grade of D minus.