Additional 5,000 MACC officers to speed up clearing cases
By Sarban Singh, TheStar
PORT DICKSON: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is set to get more bite after getting the Government’s nod to hire an additional 5,000 officers.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Shukri Abdull said the officers would be recruited in stages over the next five years.
“About half the number will be doing investigation work. On average, these officers will handle between five and 10 cases each per year,” he said.
The MACC presently investigates about 1,000 cases a year.
Shukri said with added manpower, the commission would be able to investigate and dispose of cases faster.
He said he was also happy with the commitment shown by his officers despite the MACC being unfairly criticised by some for not being just when carrying out its duties.
”My officers take this in their stride and are dedicated in their work. They even work on their days off to complete whatever they are doing,” he told reporters after witnessing the passing out of 165 new MACC officers here.
Also present was MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kasim Mohamed.
Shukri said that in the first seven months of the year, the MACC received allegations of corrupt practices involving 7,224 cases.
It opened 803 investigation papers and arrested 510 people with the bulk of them being public sector employees.
“Four of them are in the top management group, 19 in the professional and management group and 142 support staff,” he said.
He said his officers also detained 33 private sector employees, 319 members of the public and two politicians in their course of investigations.
The alleged transactions involved RM6.2mil in cash.
On a separate matter, Shukri reminded the people not to take it for granted that enforcement officers could be easily bribed.
“Times have changed and recent trends show that more enforcement officers are now lodging reports of people trying to bribe them,” he said.
Shukri said half of those detained for allegedly being involved in corruption in the first six months of this year were those offering bribes.
“This is heartening as we only detained about 500 people for the whole of last year for allegedly being involved in corrupt activities,” he added.
