PR raps MACC for poor performance despite bigger budget allocation

A Pakatan Rakyat lawmaker today rapped the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for the drop in their prosecution cases, despite the increase in their budget allocation in 2013.

Kampar MP Dr Ko Chung Sen said that this is because, within a five year period, for every cases convicted, the government has given an average amount of RM707,744 and fined an average amount of RM34,892.87.

“This is at best, a return of 4.9 per cent. What is alarming is that in 2013, despite a massive increase of 24.4 per cent, in the budget to more than a quarter of a billion ringgit from 2011, the total number of cases convicted has actually dropped by 31.7 percent.

“To get a conviction in 2013, MACC needed 8.8 officers to work for a year with an expenditure of RM949,705 to get a fine of RM43,649,” he said at a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

Ko said so when responding to a question he raised in Parliament.

He had asked the Prime Minister to state the breakdown of the amount of graft money involved in the cases investigated by MACC for the past five years and also the number prosecutions and convictions involved.

He said that from the statistics that was revealed there was a gradual increase in the budget allocation from RM202,280,000 in 2011 to RM211,288,500 in 2012 and RM251,672,000 in 2013.

However the amount that was fined dropped from RM14,570,799 in 2012 to RM11,567,130 in 2013.

According to the written reply given by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datul Paul Low Seng Kuan, there was 1078 cases opened and 811 cases completed in 2012 with 401 cases prosecuted and 339 convictions.

However, in 2013 only 27.1 per cent of the 976 cases were convicted.

In total for a period of five years from 2008-2013, 5,517 graft cases were opened but only 1,395 convictions were recorded.

“So, not only the MACC was not catching the big sharks, the little fishes were getting away.

“Ever since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took office, he has repeatedly declared his determination to fight corruption.

“Unfortunately, despite the higher funding in tackling graft, bribery and corruption in Malaysia seems to be worsening, as found by auditing company KPMG, in January 2014,” Ko said.

He said about 90 per cent of the corporate executives have agreed that bribery and corruption were the major problem for businesses in Malaysia.

“Obviously the appointment if Low to be in charge of Transparency and Integrity has not shown any improvement in fioghting corruption.

“He had actually made a negative impact on MACC, and have performed worse than Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz. He should be honest with himself and resign,” Ko said.