The MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Azam Baki recently said that Civil servants should come forward and report corrupt practices in their respective departments or agencies. He also stated that should they choose to be a whistleblower, they will be protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010.[1]
The issue at hand isn’t that reports have not been made – plenty of reports have been made ranging from small time bribery cases to multi-million-dollar corruption cases. The bigger issue is, when will MACC take action against those who have had complaints made against them?
In a case that was brought to my attention back in August 2019, a complaint was made against a government official which was then reported to MACC. This particular case was a payment made to the contractor for work that was not physically done on site. A site visit by MACC would have easily confirmed that to be the case. This particular officer has also split projects into smaller contracts to avoid tender, as well as awarded contracts to a company that is financially related to him.
It is now January 2021 and we have yet to receive an end to the case, even though my office has been diligently following up with MACC every couple of months via letters, emails and phone calls. I can’t imagine that it takes more than a year to investigate these allegations and either charge this officer in court or dismiss the complaints.
Back then, the Selangor MACC Director, Datuk Alias Salim was quick to deny any delay in its investigations and that the investigation into the matter is ongoing and is being pursued according to investigation procedures. I have since continued to follow up and have been repeatedly told that the matter is still “under investigation.” This is still the response today, one and a half years later.
Until today, the officer who is involved and who should be ‘person under investigation’ still holds his office. To my knowledge, no action has been taken against him and the original complainant has rarely been contacted or followed up with as well. Is MACC planning to keep the investigation going until the officer retires and no trail left behind? Why is a simple, straightforward corruption case taking one and a half years to ‘investigate’? Unfortunately, MACC is quick to talk but not to act.
It is cases like these that deter people from coming forward even though they are assured protection. Cases like this, or the lack of immediate action on it, adds to the perception of ‘What’s the point of making a complaint? They’ll still get away with it.’ Because nothing has been done or nothing will be done.
If MACC is really serious about being hard on corruption, then they should not lose focus on the smaller cases. It is usually the smaller cases that affect the everyday man and women. Treat every case equally and act quickly. I strongly urge MACC to stop using ‘under investigation’ as an excuse to delay and take immediate action against cases that have been filed with them.