Appalled by MACC arrests, TI-M wants it to be accountable to Parliament
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) said it is appalled by news reports of three Malaysian MACC officers being arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds connected to a case involving the country's former director-general of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation Hasanah Abdul Hamid.
In a statement today, TI-M said that this highlights why the anti-graft body must be directly accountable to Parliament...
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) said it is appalled by news reports of three MACC officers being arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds connected to a case involving the country's former director-general of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation Hasanah Abdul Hamid.
In a statement today, TI-M said that this highlights why the anti-graft body must be directly accountable to Parliament.
"TI-M reiterates the question raised by an MP (Gobind Singh Deo) as to why the MACC is investigating its own officers over the alleged theft of money seized in the course of investigating a criminal breach of trust case and not the police.
"The offence of misusing property entrusted to a civil servant clearly falls under Section 409 of the Penal Code and is under the jurisdiction of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).
"Perhaps it will be wise for MACC to make a police report immediately and allow a normal criminal investigation to be conducted," TI-M said.
The officers, who were detained last week, had allegedly misappropriated a portion of US$6 million (RM25 million) seized from Hasanah after she was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the High Court this year.
It has been reported that Hasanah had attempted to reclaim the money only to discover that some of it had gone missing and was replaced with counterfeit money.
TI-M said the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) report 2020 has highlighted that the trust rating Malaysians have in the MACC is at 74 percent and that this number is directly linked to perceptions of corruption in the government and civil service, as well as the confidence Malaysians have in reporting incidents of corruption to the law enforcement agency.
"This latest incident, coupled with a lack of transparency and independent due process in handling the allegations, will only serve to further tarnish the image of the MACC.
"TI-M, along with civil societies has long advocated for greater and more independent oversight for the MACC by making the MACC a constitutional commission that is directly accountable to Parliament, as opposed to being solely answerable to a cabinet minister," it said.
The group pointed out that is likely these events are not isolated and such leakages, if not dealt with adequately and swiftly, would send the wrong message to the local and international community, and negatively affect Malaysia’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score in the future.
"The rakyat deserve an independent MACC that is accountable for its conduct," TI-M added.
