MACC 'Hall of Shame' grows

KUALA LUMPUR: AS the number of successes by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) increases, so does the length of the list on its “Corruption Offenders Database”.

More Malaysians, some of them prominent, are finding themselves on the database. 

The MACC “Hall of Shame” now lists 543 people, including several high-profile individuals with “Datuk” titles convicted of graft.

Most prominent on the list are former Immigration Department director-general Datuk Wahid Md Don and former Negri Sembilan Veterinary Department director Datuk Dr Noor Soeraya Norsham.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki told the New Straits Times that the commission had intensified training to sharpen the skills of its investigators, in line with the increasing number of cases.

 “We have changed the methods used in investigations by training the investigators to look for good evidence, which will satisfy and can be approved by the judges.

“Investigators are also trained to be more competent in investigating their cases,” he said. Elaborating on the training, Azam said investigators had been sent for training , coaching and mentoring every year, and this had significantly improved their skills.

“As some of the experienced officers started leave, we had to train the younger investigators, which is a challenge for us.

“It takes about five years for an individual to become a good investigator,” he said.

On the Corruption Offenders Database, Azam said it was accessible to the public, enabling employers to check if any potential employees were listed on the database.

“It is good for people who wish to employ anyone to know if they had previously been convicted for corruption, because integrity is important,” he said.

Azam added that the database also served as a lesson for others, which might educate them not to be involved in corruption.

The database showed the number of those arrested had been on the increase since 2014. Statistics for 2012 showed there were 701 arrests, but this number dropped to 509 the next year.

In 2014, the number of arrests increased to 552, followed by 841 last year. Of the 841 offenders, 398 were civil servants.

So far this year, 670 people have been arrested on suspicion of corrupt practices.

The number included 323 civil servants.

The highest number of arrests occurred in 2011 at 918. On Oct 30, 2013, Wahid was convicted at the Sessions Court for accepting RM60,000 from businessman Datuk Seri Low Chang Hian five years earlier to speed up the approvals of 4,337 visa applications of Bangladeshi workers.

He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and fined RM300,000.

Dr Noor Soeraya, on the other hand, was sentenced to two years’ jail by the Putrajaya Court of Appeal in January last year on four charges of fraudulently using forged documents to her financial advantage.

She was initially acquitted by the Sessions Court in Seremban at the end of the defence case. Additional reporting by Fernando Fong

http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/10/179716/macc-hall-shame-grows