Improve existing laws to monitor inflow of foreign funds - Azalina

Several existing laws, including the Law Profession Act (LPA) 1976 should be improved to monitor the inflow of foreign funds into the country, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

She said the proposed amendment to LPA should also take into consideration the matter involving acceptance of grants, gifts, properties or money by the Bar Council.

"This is to ensure that the Council will be able to achieve its main objective of upholding justice without any conflicts of interest or foreign interference," she said in a statement here on Monday.

The Pengerang member of Parliament also proposed for the Societies Act 1966 (Act 335) and Societies Regulations 1984 be enforced on various types of societies by taking into account several issues.

"This includes ensuring that the report procedures on received funds are in accordance to good, transparent and responsible governance, which inadvertently will ensure a better development of the society in Malaysia," she said.

Azalina said the same Act should also give more room (for the authorities) to regulate the registration of non-governmental organisations (NGO), such as Bersih, to prevent abuse.

In this context, she also described the leak of documents on certain NGO allegedly receiving foreign funding, particularly from hedge fund billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundation (OSF), as worrying.

"It's probably not wrong to receive foreign funding because, right now, there is no special regulations or laws regarding foreign funding," she said.

Recently, the Bar Council conceded that it had received RM53,757.12 (US$15,000) from OSF as a grant to carry out research study on migrant workers in Malaysia.

Chairperson of the Bar Council Migrants, Refugees and Immigration Affairs Committee Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam revealed that the grant was received on Jan 7, 2015. -- Bernama