KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) nabbed 133 company owners and directors last year over alleged misappropriation and leakages of government funds and aid.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya said more than 100 companies had been investigated for misappropriation of funds, amounting to about RM194 million.
He said 34 company owners or directors had been charged in court for submitting false claims.
"MACC views embezzlement and leakages of (government) funds and aid of this kind as a critical issue that warrants immediate attention.
"MACC, therefore, has joined forces with the relevant government agencies and ministries to curb this."
He revealed this yesterday in an article titled "Ketirisan Dan Penyelewengan Pengurusan Dana" (leakages and misconduct in the management of funds), published on the MACC website.
The anti-graft agency, he said, had made its focus this year to tackle issues of leakages and misappropriation of funds in all agencies and sectors, including in the human resources, welfare, automotive, education and higher education, animal husbandry, agriculture and plantation sectors.
In the strongly worded piece, Khusairi highlighted the "fading value of integrity" among several companies that were responsible for helping the government channel funds or aid to the needy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He cited several agencies and funds as examples, such as the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana), the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) and the Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii), which were established to help people affected by economic pressure, but the three were found to be involved in alleged fund misappropriation in the past.
In October 2021, MACC arrested 16 company directors over suspicion of involvement in embezzling grants issued by the Mitra.
In March last year, MACC confirmed the arrests of 10 individuals, including VIPs, to assist in the investigation into the misappropriation of funds involving a MARii project worth RM85 million.
On Jan 26, 2023, two businessmen were brought to the Kuantan Sessions Court on two charges of submitting false claims for the Social Security Organisation Penjana Kerjaya 1.0 programme incentive amounting to RM43,600 in October 2020.
Khusairi said graft busters would start looking at the impact and success of initiatives carried out by agencies handling public funds and will flag them if they were deemed to have failed in their mission.
He pointed out that during the pandemic, there were people affected by job losses, unemployment and business problems, and some were even forced to shut down their businesses due to economic uncertainties.
To ease their burden, he said, the government had introduced various funds, loans, moratoriums, skills training and special financial assistance programmes, but there were "serious leakages" and misappropriation of funds in such programmes.
"But what happened? There were individuals, companies and organisations that had taken the opportunity to profit from the rights and sufferings of the affected people," he said.
"These people blatantly took advantage (of the funds provided) by the government by making false claims for their personal wealth.
"This is the attitude of 'economic opportunists' (buaya-buaya ekonomi) on a small and medium scale. The value of integrity is fading and greed has become a culture.
"This has only resulted in the further suffering of the working class and marginalised communities, students being unemployed, and traders forced to close down businesses."
Khusairi stressed that this was a form of leakage that the government should pay attention to.
"There is no point in having a policy that looks good on paper but fails at implementation.
"There are numerous loopholes that create room and opportunities for abuse to happen, such as weaknesses in the process of authenticating information submitted by applicants."
The loopholes, he said, had resulted in several companies owned by the same person making multiple claims.
He also highlighted how the nationwide emergency from Jan 11 to Aug 1, 2021, was used as an excuse to "not perform" due diligence on applicants, and if the investigation was too rigid, it was accused of being too bureaucratic.
He said there were no clear mechanisms to monitor the programmes or activities that were supposed to be carried out to ensure that they were implemented properly.
He added that there were no clear rules and laws to take action against the applicants, such as instituting civil suits, reclaiming unspent funds or blacklisting them.
Khusairi said the agencies that were responsible for channelling funds to those in need should be constantly monitored, adding that the key performance indicators (KPIs) should not be based on how many people had received aid, how much aid had been channelled, or how many programmes or activities had been conducted.
"All these KPIs are purely quantitative in nature. What should be measured is the impact or outcome of the activity or programme.
"Only then can the intention of reducing unemployment and the number of problematic businesses, and supporting the development of skills and potential of the working class be achieved."