Angkasa records clean, says MACC
By Roy See Wei Zhi, NST
PETALING JAYA: National Cooperative Organisation Malaysia (Angkasa) has been given a clean bill of health by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed said Angkasa’s transaction records were among the most consistent out of the hundreds of other cooperatives that had been investigated by the commission.
“It is important for cooperatives, private and public companies to ensure their employees have the right ethics and conduct to prevent corrupt behaviour,” he said at the closing ceremony of an Angkasa anti-corruption awareness seminar.
Abu Kassim said those cooperatives which had discrepancies in their accounts were being investigated.
He lauded Angkasa for taking the initiative to host the seminar aimed at raising anti-corruption awareness among its members.
He said the public could be educated on the seriousness and consequences of corrupt behaviour to create a deterrence effect.
Angkasa vice-president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah said Angkasa had been managing 2.8 million accounts involving RM68.7 billion in transactions since it started in 1977.
“Every single sen had been accounted for and no one had complained about their money being missing under Angkasa’s management.”
He said there were some incidents of late which put Angkasa in a position where the public had doubted its integrity as a cooperative.
“The anti-corruption awareness campaign, where we invited MACC officers for discussions, is part of our efforts to regain the public’s trust.”
A group of five cooperatives filed a suit against Angkasa’s board of directors last month for alleged criminal breach of trust and abuse of power.
They are seeking a court order to suspend eight Angkasa directors until new committee members are elected. They also want an audit to be conducted on Angkasa’s expenditures for five years from July 1, 2005.
It was alleged that the eight directors had misappropriated RM500,000 and spent RM1.27 million to purchase seven Toyota Camry cars for themselves. They were also accused of failing to perform their duty, resulting in a loss of RM6.5 million.
