PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan said that based on recent statistics on corruption within the civil service, it is possible that such crimes will continue to rise if no further steps are taken to curb them.

"Based on this trend, it is not impossible that the number of such crimes will continue to increase, if we don't take thorough and effective steps to prevent this.

"More worrying is that this involves all levels of civil servants," Nasrudin said in a statement today.

In 2015, 398 civil servants were arrested for corruption, which is an increase of 173 from the previous year, he said.

Within the first two months of 2016, he said, 98 people were arrested for the same crime.

In March 2016, a division secretary from the Youth and Sports Ministry faced 32 corruption charges involving RM38.4 million, he added.

This month, a senior officer from Kuala Lumpur City Hall and two others were also arrested for corruption, he said.

Their accounts, worth RM13 million, were frozen while their assets including several properties, luxury cars and cash worth RM400,000 were seized, he said.

Nasrudin said it was also worrying that from 2013 to 2015, 55 percent of the 1,902 corruption arrests made involved those who were below 40 years old.

As such, Nasrudin suggested several things that should be done to curb corruption within the civil service.

First, he said, the government should remain committed and transparent in combating all corruption and abuse of power, starting from the leaders of the country and specifically, within ministries and government agencies.

"The culture of cronyism and nepotism that exists must be destroyed because it has become protection for those involved in corruption within the government administration," he said.

Also, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must focus on specific sectors that have been identified as hotspots for corruption to occur, said Nasrudin.

MACC must also be guaranteed the power to investigate thoroughly and to charge those involved.

He said that civil servants could also play their part by coming forward as informants or witnesses to expose any wrongdoings.

"At the same time, the government must provide a conducive environment – including legally – for them (civil servants) to do so," he said.

He said the public must also reject any and all forms of corruption and provide support and help to the relevant agencies to make sure the individuals who have been charged with corruption or abuse of power cpuld no longer hold public positions.

On Aug 15, three senior government officers were arrested by MACC for alleged corruption, including a Datuk Seri from DBKL.

The others are from the Malacca Public Works Department and the Kelantan office of Tenaga Nasional Bhd.