PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) job is to seize and forfeit monies deemed to be from bribery and corruption, and then pass them on to the Finance Ministry, says MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki (pic).
He said that how those funds would be spent or retained falls under the purview of the Finance Ministry, not the anti-graft body.
Azam was responding to calls for transparency over how illicit funds seized by MACC would be spent.
He said this to the media after a Cooperation Note signing event between the Federal Territories Department and MACC here on Tuesday (Feb 3).
“Our work is to seize and also forfeit the monies to the government. It is not our duty to ensure where the money goes. That is the job of the Finance Minister and the Finance Ministry. The important thing is that the money absconded from the rakyat (people) is returned to them,” said Azam.
ON Monday (Feb 2), corruption watchdog Malaysia Corruption Watch (MCW) said that the MACC’s recovery of RM8.5bil in illicit proceeds would only matter if the money was used openly, delivered tangible benefits to the public and was followed by firm punishment of those responsible.
MACC had earlier announced it had seized and recovered more than RM8.5bil between Jan 1 and Dec 31 last year through asset seizures, account freezes, forfeiture orders, compounds and negotiated settlements.
According to the anti-graft body, most of the sum came from freezing and seizure actions worth RM6.95bil, followed by RM1.5bil from settlements, RM49.7mil from compounds and RM8.1mil from forfeiture cases.
