PORT KLANG: AN amendment to include a corporate liability provision in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 will be tabled at the next parliamentary session in March.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief Datuk Mustafar Ali said the drafting process had been completed for the provision, which will allow authorities to take action against companies whose employees have been found guilty of corruption offences.
He said the new law was aimed at combating institutional corruption, citing cases where companies had set aside funds specifically for giving bribes.
“This amendment is not aimed at penalising anyone, but is meant to ensure that corporations take responsibility for corruption that occurs in their sector or organisation,” he said after the signing of a corporate integrity pledge (CIP) between NCB Holdings Bhd and MACC.
Present were NCB Holdings chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid and group managing director Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid.
Currently, no companies can be held liable for graft or corruption, as only employees can be charged for offences under the MACC Act.
Earlier, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed said the new law would also help to combat a perception held by large multinational corporations that graft and bribery were acceptable business practices in developing countries, such as Malaysia.
“I have even heard some local companies here say the same thing — that they cannot get anything done without giving bribes to government officers.”
He said such beliefs had led to resistance against corporate liability laws both here and in other countries.
“These foreign companies who believe they need to pay bribes to governments in developing countries, I want to be able to say to them, which religion or civilisation condones bribery? This is just their biased opinion.”
Abu Kassim praised NCB Holdings for becoming the first shipping company in Malaysia to sign the CIP, an MACC initiative aimed at creating a corruption-free business environment.
Abu Kassim said as part of the pledge, the MACC would monitor the company’s performance in 10 areas, including ethical codes, whistleblower policies, identifying risk areas and compliance.
A total of 510 companies nationwide have signed the pledge.
Last month, the commission had initiated a crackdown on corruption within the private sector, following three successful operations involving government departments over the last two months.
Companies targeted had included several government-linked companies, main power supply companies, the oil and gas industry and a local bank.
Prominent figures from the private sector hauled to court had included staff from Sime Darby, Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd, Iskandar Investment Berhad and others.
MACC investigation director Datuk Mohd Jamidan Abdullah had previously been quoted as saying that corruption in the private sector had cost the government billions of ringgit in lost revenue.