Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mahamad (Source: The Straits Times)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia on January 29 announced a five-yearplan to intensify control over corruption in Government agencies after amulti-billion-USD graft scandal brought down the previous administration.
The plan, launched byPrime Minister Mahathir Mahamad, will include changes to the appointmentprocess for key posts, require lawmakers and ministers to publicly declaretheir assets, and introduce new laws to regulate political funding andlobbying.
Mahathir said Malaysianeeds all kinds of strategies, laws and restrictions to curb corruption.
This plan is a strongstatement from the current government that it will track down and prosecutepast offenders, while current and future offenders will be facing harsheraction, he stated in a speech to launch the new approach to graft combat.
The plan's measureswill target the government's procurement process, law enforcement, judiciary,politics and business.
The plan will focus onhigh-risk practices such as the selling of government contracts to thirdparties, and the appointment of political operatives to the board of state-linkedcompanies.
Officials studied the1MDB case closely to design the new anti-corruption plan, said Abu KassimMohamed, director-general of the Governance, Integrity and Anti-CorruptionCentre, which drafted the anti-graft measures.
Former Malaysian PM NajibRazak founded the 1MDB investment fund in 2009, supposedly to serve Malaysia’sdevelopment through global partnerships and foreign direct investment.
However, it became thecentre of a money laundering scandal, allegedly causing losses of up to 3.7billion USD and leading to probes into the financial markets in severalcountries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Najib faced with atotal of 38 charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust sincelosing power, most of them related to the 1MDB.
After assuming power,Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad declared to give priority to addressingcorruption and taking back losses of the fund. The Malaysian government has setup a task force to look into the scandal with help from the US, Switzerland,Singapore, Canada and other countries.-VNA
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