Laws to be amended to deal with corporate corruption

KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments to relevant laws are being considered to deal more effectively with private companies involved in corrupt business dealings in the country or abroad, according to Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

One proposal was to introduce a corporate liability provision under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 to make companies responsible for the actions of their associates and employees, he said yesterday.

“We are also looking at the Companies Act to include a set of rules and procedures for business dealings,” he said.

“Drafts of the amendments should be ready by early next year.”

Gani said the amendments could be just interim measures before more comprehensive changes were made to existing legislation to check private sector corruption.

He understood that the Govern­ment would continue to engage bodies such as the Malaysian Employers Federation and Asso­ciated Chinese Chambers of Com­merce and Industry of Malaysia when planning changes affecting private sector activities.

Earlier, when delivering a keynote address on Corporate Governance: Corrupt Practices, Gani said that the UK Bribery Act and US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act were among the international laws being looked at for guidance.

He cited the Alcatel-Lucent case in 2011 where the Paris-based company paid some RM423mil in fines and penalties to settle charges by the US authorities after admitting paying bribes to officials from Honduras, Costa Rica and Malaysia between December 2001 and June 2006.

This, he said, prompted the Government to work towards introducing anti-graft laws in private sector dealings.

“The role of the Attorney General Chambers is to ensure that the Government is properly advised on any legislation after taking into consideration views of relevant stakeholders,” Gani said.

As of May this year, Gani said that only 434 government-linked companies, civil society organisations, private sector professional bodies had taken the MACC Corporate Integrity Pledge introduced in 2011.

Gani cited the KPMG Malaysia Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Survey 2013, which stated that most of the culprits received more than one form of bribes. According to the report, cash was given to 94%, entertainment to 86% and gifts to 81%.

A speaker at the Legal Plus-organised seminar, Queen’s Counsel Vivian Robinson, said laws to check private sector corruption would augur well for the country.

Robinson, who is former Serious Fraud Office General Counsel involved with the UK Bribery Act, said the laws should have a “vast territorial reach” to check corrupt practices of a company.