Prominent human rights activist Cynthia Gabriel has received the prestigious Anti-Corruption Champions Award (ACCA) which recognises individuals who have demonstrated leadership, courage, and impact in preventing, exposing, and combating corruption.

Gabriel joins seven other awardees from Bangladesh, Iraq, Columbia, Mexico, Madagascar, Serbia, and Zimbabwe to receive the prestigious recognition from the US.

Admitting “awe and shock” at being given the accolade, Gabriel said the award is a much-needed global push against corruption everywhere, especially new threats of transnational corruption.

“It recognises most critically, local leaders, investigative journalists, activists, lawyers and judges, from different corners of the world to strengthen our fight against kleptocracy, grand corruption and corporate fraud,” said the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) founder.

Gabriel dedicated the award to all Malaysians fighting earnestly for a better country and graft busters all over.

Since 2015, Malaysia has been in the global news for the wrong reasons when sovereign wealth fund 1MDB was exposed for its grand-scale malpractices.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who was implicated in the scandal, was jailed for 12 years on Aug 23.

Civil society vital in fight against graft

“We are just coming fresh from a general election, after unprecedented times of political turbulence, where we survived three changes of governments in the last four years.

“We came out of a global pandemic and hit an all-time low with our economy and local currency,” she said during her speech at the ceremony.

“The new unity government faces many challenges including upholding good governance, and we urge that civil society becomes an important component in fighting the scourge of corruption,” Gabriel said.

The lawyer shared that she became deeply involved in anti-corruption activism driven by a search for truth and justice.

She has not forgotten “the pain, treachery of the powerful, intimidation and harassment to silence her and her colleagues with fear” while they were at work.

“Yet we trudged through dark tunnels against the odds and battled the highest power.

“It indeed built my strength and courage, something I never knew I had as part of my personality traits.”

In March, Gabriel was the US Embassy Kuala Lumpur's nominee for the 2022 International Women of Courage Award.

The former Suaram director was also the key person in the Scorpene submarines corruption case, which is an ongoing judicial investigation in France since 2012.

US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken announced the ACCA honourees during a ceremony yesterday, at the Burns Auditorium at the Department of State in Washington, DC.

Blinken launched the ACCA in February 2021 to demonstrate the Joe Biden administration’s commitment to combating corruption. 

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