KUALA LUMPUR: More than 100 new chief integrity officers (CeIO) will be deployed next year in a bid to strengthen the integrity and administration of the government service.
The CeIOs will be attached to ministries and agencies, especially those with a high risk of corruption.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low announced this at a talk titled “Prospects and challenges facing ethics and integrity in public and private sectors” yesterday.
The new batch of CeIOs will join more than 180 CeIOs already present in several ministries and agencies. Low said the CeIOs are recruited by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The recruits, from either outside the government or from within, are trained at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy.
Low said the government planned to have 600 CeIOs within three to four years, but the recruitment had to be done in batches as the training required time.
“The CeIOs implement structural changes and reforms in the system, ensure compliance, receive complaints, identify risk areas prone to abuse and, if necessary, investigate claims of corruption.”
Low said the CeIOs worked openly and would also work closely with internal auditors, giving them direct access to the MACC, the auditor-general and himself.
Low said the CeIOs were part of a bigger picture, namely the Government Integrity Structure (Jitu).
The Jitu functions as a platform for department heads to air concerns, complaints and opinions related to integrity of the administration of their ministry and agencies.
Low said Jitu also acts as a platform to ensure the implementation of reforms related to integrity and good governance.
The Jitu consists of a committee that reports to the cabinet, CeIOs, as well as expert groups, such as the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit and the Institute of Integrity Malaysia.
“The beauty of Jitu is that everything from the department-head level goes right to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who chairs the cabinet committee for Jitu.”