Penang ready to work with MACC to tackle corrupt practices

GEORGE TOWN: Penang government is ready to work with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to ensure that officers involved in corrupt practices be dealt with severely.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government welcomed MACC's investigations on corruption involving civil servants in the state as they were in line with the CAT principles of good governance, competency, accountability and transparency practised since 2008.

"No one is above the law and civil servants, whether from federal, state or local authorities and agencies, found to be involved in accepting bribes, abuse of power and making false claims must be investigated and charged as soon as possible," he said in a statement here today.

However, Chow said the Penang government wanted MACC to be transparent in revealing the number of cases brought to the courts and the number of civil servants found guilty.

"We demand transparency on the part of MACC as we do not want the image of Penang civil servants and the state government to be tarnished only by account of the number of complaints received since 2019," he said.

Chow was responding to a statement by MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki yesterday who said that accepting bribes, abuse of power and making false claims among civil servants in Penang were worrying.

Based on its statistics, the MACC had received a total of 919 complaints on the transgressions since 2019 until now.

-- BERNAMA