The MACC Failed to Investigat​e 99.3% of Graft Money

 

Media Statement by Ko Chung Sen, MP of Kampar in Kuala Lumpur on 23rd, October, 2013

The MACC Failed to Investigate 99.3% of Graft Money Despite Spending A Billion Ringgits. 

 

 

 

In my question dated 21^st, October, 2013. I asked the Prime Minister to state: (a) the total budget and the number of personnel for the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) for the last 5 years and planned for the next 5 years; and(b)  the number of prosecutions, the number of convictions and the amount of graft money involved.

In his answer to me, the minister in the Department of Prime Minister, YB Senator Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan replied the budget and the number of officers for the MACC in the last five years from 2009 to 2013 were:

Year	Budget (RM)	Number of Filled Posts
2008		1795
2009	161,032,700.00	2078
2010	156,845,500.00	2269
2011	202,280,000.00	2264
2012	211,288,500.00	2248
2013	251,672,000.00	2331
Total	983,118,700.00

The government had agreed to increase the number of personnel in the MACC by 150 posts per year until the total figure of 5000 is achieved with the necessary funding together.

Year	Cases Prosecuted	Number Convicted (%)
2009	174	94   (54%)
2010	435	309   (71%)
2011	520	388   (75%)
2012	401	339   (85%)
2013 (Jan to Jun)	162	144   (89%)
Total	1692	1274   (75%)

The YB Senator Datuk Paul Low mentioned there was an increase in the rate of conviction in the last five years.

Over the same period, the total amount of the graft money involved was RM 57,698,540.41 and the total amount recovered in forfeiture was RM 17,083,729.91. These came to 5.9% and 1.7% respectively compared to the budget allocated to fight graft.

From the figures, we have spent nearly a billion ringgits in fighting corruption since Dato Seri Najib Razak took over as the Prime Minister.  Reducing corruption was one of the six national key result areas announced on 28^th, January, 2010. This was reiterated in one of the speeches at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco during his visit to USA last month that he will make corruption a thing of the past in Malaysia.

However, despite an increase in the budget and the personnel in the last three years, the total number of cases prosecuted and convicted have actually dropped. For every case prosecuted, on average the MACC is spending RM 581,039.42 to investigate graft money involving RM 34,041.69 and recovered RM 10,096.76. A return of 1.7%.

This is not a problem if we have no corruption at all in Malaysia. However, Malaysia had been found to be one of the most corrupted countries in the world in recent surveys by Earnest& Young (September 2013) and the Wall Street Journal (December 2012). The amount of graft money investigated comes to about RM 11.5 million a year with the recovery of RM 3.41 million a year. Global Financial Integrity (GFI) reporte