KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay reserve land fraud case in Perak was an isolated incident, says Tan Sri Azam Baki.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner said he had not received any fraud cases involving Malay reserve in other states following the case involving the subdivision of reserved land in Manjung, Perak.
“It is a criminal offence to change the status of a Malay reserve land to freehold. And we will investigate if there are reports of such activities in other states,” he said on the sidelines after the pre-launch ceremony of the publishing project and integrity values implementation programme (anti-corruption) joint venture between MACC and the Malaysia Institute of Translation and Books (ITBM) here, on Wednesday (May 29).
Tan Sri Azam Baki (centre) at a pre-launch event on Wednesday.–KAMARUL ARIFFIN/TheStar
On Tuesday (May 28), a real estate company managing director in his 40s was remanded for four days to assist in investigating the case involving the subdivision of Malay reserve land in Manjung, Perak.
It was revealed that the suspect bribed a civil servant working in the land office to change the status of 649.2ha of Malay reserve land, which resulted in the illegal transfer of the land to non-Malay companies and individuals.
Meanwhile, MACC senior director (investigations) Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim confirmed the arrest and said the case was under Section 16(b)(B) of the MACC Act.
At the pre-launch of the"Wira Anti Rasuah" (Anti-Corruption) comic book, Azam said the publication was a strategic collaboration initiative between MACC and ITBM to raise awareness on anti-graft among school-going children.
“The usual method to promote anti-corruption, such as holding marathons or symposiums, is no longer relevant.
“We need to change the image of how to educate the children about corruption and raise awareness about integrity,” he said in his speech for the pre-launch event.
The comic book Wira Anti Rasuah is the Malay translation of Bribe Busters: A Trace Comic Book, which was originally published by Trace International, a US-based organisation that promotes international anti-corruption standards on a global scale.
