Kudos to The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for arresting an immigration officer whose lavish lifestyle raised more than a few eyebrows last Monday.[1]
The 37-year-old officer, who was transferred to Padang Besar in Perlis from Putrajaya early last year, had in his possession five luxury cars, including a BMW X6, BMW 320i and Toyota Vellfire, a BMW R1200 superbike, 13 luxury wristwatches and 13 branded handbags.
A check also found that he had a fixed deposit account of about RM1 million.
The total amount seized, including his house in Jitra, Kedah, was estimated to be close to RM2.5 million.
Between 2014 to 2016, 2,329 arrests were made for graft by MACC. From that figure, 54 per cent or 1,267 people were aged 40 and below. From that amount, 635 or 50 per cent were civil servants. And all these civil servants have one thing in common, flashy lifestyle that does not match their measly pay under the government pay scale.
I applaud the effort of MACC to fight corruption. But they cannot ignore the elephant in the room. No use to go after the young officers and administrative assistants, but ignore the fact that our Prime Minister and his family are also famous of having a lavish lifestyle that does not commensurate with his official emoluments.
I have lodged a report at MACC Johor Headquarter two years ago urging them to probe into the wealth of Najib and his family. But the reply I received was possessing luxurious items is not an offence unless if the items were procured through corruption and MACC could not start an investigation unless there is a predicate offence.
But, if MACC can seize the belongings of the immigration officer as they were believed to have been obtained from ill-gotten gains, they surely can go and seize the Birkin handbags, jewelries and all luxurious items of Najib and his family to investigate if these were obtained from 1MDB and corruption!
In Hong Kong, government officer that maintains a standard of living above that which is commensurate with his present or past official emoluments or is in control of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his present or past official emoluments, is guilty of corruption unless he gives a satisfactory explanation to the court as to his source of wealth.
Being rich is of course not a sin. However as an office bearer in Government, it is important to be transparent as to the source of the fortune so that people are assured that the politicians and government servants do not abuse the power and position to accumulate and build wealth.
When DOJ openly said that USD681 million from a 2013 bond sale by sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was transferred to the account of “Malaysian Official 1”, how can our MACC not taking any action when they vow to combat graft among the civil servants and to clean up the Malaysian public sector?