Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki said on Feb 1 that dignitaries, politicians, and white-collar criminals have been stashing their illicit funds in several countries, especially those in West Asia.
The fact that these people are hiding their money in other countries does not surprise anyone. However, it is interesting that the MACC boss mentioned West Asia.
Earlier, on Jan 17, Azam was reported in the media as saying that a particular country in West Asia was popular with those wanting to stash cash.
“Recently, we have detected that the country has become a focal point for those involved in dubious financial activities such as money laundering,” he said, adding that it had become a preferred destination for Malaysians and others involved in financial crimes.
He did not, however, name the country.
There are 18 countries in West Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
I won’t hazard a guess, but anyone wishing to do so would first have to rule out conflict-ridden or unstable countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran and Iraq. And perhaps Israel too, for obvious reasons.
Now that the MACC knows about the funds or properties that these individuals – including VIPs – have planted offshore, Malaysians would be eager to see some action.
Talking about action, the MACC must be praised for its spate of successes, the biggest of which was the arrest and jailing of former prime minister Najib Razak.
Its latest success was the arrest of a department director-general and one of his deputies in connection with a probe into abuse of power and corruption involving e-waste management, as reported in the media on Jan 29.
We have to applaud the MACC for recovering more than RM8.5 billion from Jan 1 until Dec 31, 2025 from crooks.
And we cannot praise the MACC without praising Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration for its push to flush out the corrupt.
Anwar has frequently said there was zero tolerance for corruption. Last month he promised to go after cartels, saying cartel dominance in procurement systems and specific markets had led to unreasonable project price increases.
This, he said, made it harder for the government to allocate additional funds for development projects such as building hospitals, clinics, and public facilities in other areas.
Last Oct 11, Anwar said the authorities had recovered RM15.5 billion in two years from the corrupt.
He said he had told enforcement agencies that there should be no compromise in the corruption fight; that procurement cartels should be demolished; and that there should be no smuggling activities and syndicates.
Malaysians are happy with the investigations into procurement deals in the military.
The MACC has so far charged former Armed Forces chief Mohamad Nizam Jaafar with two counts of abuse of power, one count of criminal breach of trust, and one count of accepting gifts. He has claimed trial.
It has also charged former army chief Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan, 58, and his wife Salwani Anuar, 26, with four counts of money laundering involving nearly RM2.2million. They have also claimed trial.
All of them remain innocent until proven otherwise in court.
Malaysians are now looking forward to seeing how the MACC handles an alleged scandal involving the swapping of government land for projects which were allegedly used to buy army votes during the 14th general election.
Some of us remember reports on May 17, 2019 quoting Mohd Nasaie Ismail, the special officer to defence minister Mohamad Sabu, alleging malpractice in the ministry.
He spoke about 16 “dubious” land swap deals which had been reported to the MACC.
Nasaie said in a statement then that 13 of the projects were initiated for political considerations, as opposed to serving government interests, including those at Kem Bera, Kem Segamat, Kem Paloh and Kem Hutan Melintang.
“The camps were built for political purposes, namely the transfer of voters prior to the 14th General Election to win certain Parliament and state seats. They were not built for military strategy, but to further the political interests of certain parties,” he had claimed.
Nasaie was reported as saying the 11th Malaysia Plan did not include any projects in the Paloh and Hutan Melintang camps, located in the Sembrong and Bagan Datuk constituencies respectively.
The reports quoted him as saying that the value of the Kinrara army base, one of the land swaps involved which former prime minister Najib Razak and his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had claimed was worth RM500 million, was actually put at RM758 million in May 2015 by the Valuation and Property Services Department.
One must not forget that former auditor-general Ambrin Buang had found political interference and absence of due diligence in 16 projects involving 2,923 acres of Mindef land.
The public is curious to know how many defence ministers and deputy defence ministers since the time of Najib Razak have been investigated by the MACC, and the outcome of the probes.
Since Anwar’s administration is going after cartels, I wonder if after sorting out the military, the MACC will pay attention to the police.
No less a man than the then Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Hamid Bador, said on March 17, 2021 that graft in the police force went all the way to the top.
He also claimed that a “cartel” of officers was conspiring with criminals to topple him.
While the public appreciates the arrest and charging of big fish, it is disappointing that some VIPs manage to slip through either by the application of instruments such as “no further action” or “discharge not amounting to an acquittal” or payment of a large sum in compensation.
This then is the real test for Anwar, the MACC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers: Reforming the MACC to make it fully independent and more effective, ensuring there’s no selective prosecution and that VIPs – especially political VIPs – don’t get special treatment, and making sure the prosecution process is not dropped halfway or avoided for reasons that are difficult to digest.
In the meantime, let’s cheer on the MACC.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
