PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) celebrates its 55th anniversary this year with the theme “Amanah, Tegas dan Adil (Trustworthy, Firm and Fair)”, highlighting many successes in uncovering white-collar crimes and high-profile cases.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the theme was also in line with the agency’s approach to handling high-profile cases involving people in positions or high-ranking individuals.
Azam said that of the 292 corruption cases that were tried in 2021, including high-profile ones, 91.1% or 266 cases ended in convictions.
“This is a success because it exceeds the 90% corruption conviction rate set in the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023.
“In terms of asset recovery last year, the total amount of assets that were forfeited and returned to the Malaysian government was RM5.1bil, 99.57% of which was from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case.
“Investigations into the cases were very challenging because of the many constraints we faced from various aspects.
“But the success – from the investigations to the prosecution stage – proves the MACC’s capability and ability in handling high-profile and complex cases that are not only recognised in this country but at the international level,” he told reporters in conjunction with MACC’s 55th anniversary celebration yesterday.
Azam said besides the 1MDB and SRC International cases, the Op Water corruption scandal was also a great achievement for the MACC, which recorded the largest seizure involving cash, luxury vehicles and jewellery worth millions of ringgit.
“Let’s not forget the ship charter company, Pristine Offshore Sdn Bhd, which was the first company to be accused under Section 17A of the MACC Act for an offence by a commercial organisation, since the law came into effect on June 1, 2020,” he said, adding that the case served as a lesson to the corporate world.
Azam added that the collaboration between MACC’s Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA) and Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom, to produce trained staff, has also borne fruit.
He said at the first convocation ceremony on Sept 8, a total of 266 MACA graduates received their scrolls and certificates of study from Nottingham Trent University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) Prof Cillian Ryan.
On new developments in the MACC after he was appointed chief commissioner, Azam said the agency gathers information and com- plaints before conducting investigations.
“After year 2000, we started using intelligence and undercover methods to expose corruption cases. It has expanded with the use of Intelligence Based Investigations (IBIs).
“This method is proactive and can be used for high-profile cases where deep analysis is done on subjects before proper investigations. With deep analysis, the identification of high-profile corrupt individuals can be confirmed, (followed by) asset restoration,” he added.
He said with the IBI method, the MACC uncovered grand corruption through Op Water, Op Power and Op Hack involving high-profile cases.
The MACC also managed to uncover the misappropriation of SRC International funds amounting to RM42mil and infrastructure project funds totalling RM3.3bil under Op Water as well as cases of electricity theft involving bitcoin syndicates that caused losses of up to RM2.3bil between 2018 and 2021 through Op Power.
