Dr M: No more gifts for ministers, but flowers are okay

PUTRAJAYA: Ministers will no longer be able to accept gifts under a new policy put in place by the Pakatan Harapan government.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the Government is planning to impose this no-gift policy on ministers to their political secretaries.

Currently, this regulation only covers civil servants.

“If there are gifts, they should only be limited to flowers, food and fruits.

“You cannot receive anything else. The giver and the receiver will be in the wrong,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference after chairing the first Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption meeting here Friday.

With the setting up of the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (GIACC), several existing agencies will be placed under its purview.

These include the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM), Public Complaints Bureau (BPA), and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC).

The prime minister had announced the setting up of GIACC last week, to be headed by former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.