• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

MACC ensures family members of corrupt punished

December 15, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 Dec 2008: Family members abetting relatives involved in graft will receive the same punishment as the guilty party as the term family member has been better defined under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Bill.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said under the bill, the term family members has been broadened to include spouses, children, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces and in-laws.

“Under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 (ACA’97), in-laws, nephews and nieces, cousins, uncles and aunts are not included which makes prosecuting them difficult,” he said when tabling the bill for second reading in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He explained that the new provisions were included in Clauses 23 and 36 of the bill and offenders could be jailed not more than 20 years or fined not less than five times the monetary value of the bribe or a minimum of RM10,000, whichever is higher.

The penalty also applies to any foreign public official who abuses his position to accept bribes.

Mohamed Nazri said this came under Clause 22 of the Bill and was something new and in line with Article 16 of the United Nation’s Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which was ratified by Malaysia last September.

Besides this, Mohamed Nazri said the Bill also called for the abolishment of the minimum jail sentence contained in ACA ’97, set at 14 days.

However, the maximum at 20 years and minimum fine of RM10,000 remains unchanged.

On the same matter, Mohamed Nazri said the Public Service Department had approved the staff strength of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) from the 500 at present to 900 personnel next year.

The ACA’s staff strength would be gradually increased to reach 5,000 personnel in five years, he said, adding this would help the agency increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Permatang Pauh), who opened debate on the Bill, said he agreed it was timely but wanted adequate protection to be given to whistleblowers.

“Emphasis should also be given on this (whistleblowers’ protection). Othewise people will feel it is not worth their while providing information. As such, I ask that the Bill be reviewed further to address this.

“However, I wish to congratulate Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for introducing this Bill. It is a step in the right direction although many Pakatan Rakyat MPs feel more time should be given to scrutinise the Bill,” he said, adding that having introduced the Anti-Corruption Act himself in 1997 when he was deputy prime minister, he understood the difficulties faced in attempting to introduce reform bills. 

Abdullah tabled the bill on 10 Dec to enable it to come into force in January.

Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) concurred with Anwar on the matter of whistleblower protection.

“The bill ought to be strengthened further or separate bill introduced to address this aspect to allay fears of whistleblowers,” he said.

Datuk Razali Ibrahim (BN-Muar) was of the opinion that abolishing the 14-day minimum jail sentence was not wise and it might encourage corruption as people might think they could get away by just paying fines.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) said in principle he supported the bill but wanted debate on an important bill like this be done thoroughly to ensure proper scrutiny.

He asked the Dewan to set aside six days for this. — Bernama

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: family members, graft, MACC, Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Bill

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph