PUTRAJAYA: The National Integrity and Good Governance Department (JITN) will not affect Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) role in curbing corruption in the public sector.
With the current development, the commission said it had formed special monitoring units to keep a close watch on issues such as embezzlement, corruption and abuse of power at high, medium and low-risk government agencies.
"In line with its preventive function under the MACC Act, we will continue to ensure that government agencies governance is free from embezzlement, graft and abuse of power from time to time," said the MACC in a statement today.
The New Straits Times had reported that 47 Certified Integrity Officers (CeIOs) with the MACC tasked with stopping corruption and abuse of power in the civil service had been pulled out from ministries and agencies they were overseeing.
The MACC said the action to remove these officers and replace them with Administration and Diplomatic Service officers was in line with the government's decision to form JITN recently.
These 47 men were reported to have been highly trained to smell a rat. These graft-busters had during their service taken down 4,000 complaints. They were able to pursue to the end, 1,600 of them, including those that were classified as "misconduct".
The CeIOs have succeeded in creating the fear factor in those with corrupt tendencies.