THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) recently announced that it is monitoring several government departments suspected of being involved in a cartel that has been monopolising the bulk of government contracts.
The monitoring, according to MACC chief Datuk Seri Azam Baki, would scrutinise any procurement process made by the departments.
This is a welcomed move by MACC, especially in the wake of the billion-ringgit ‘project tender cartel’.
Last month, the federal anti-graft agency crippled the cartel with the arrest of eight individuals, including its mastermind and a senior government agency officer.
The syndicate reportedly controlled over 150 companies monopolising RM3.8 bil worth of government projects. The mastermind of the cartel had also been monopolising government tenders since 2014.
No doubt, this will not be the last that we hear of the cartel, as evident in the MACC’s reveal that it was monitoring several government departments.
But the MACC planting ‘spies’ in various government departments and other ‘hotspots’ in its war on graft is hardly anything new.
Back in 2016, for example, a source told a local English daily that these officers had been trained to integrate themselves into the agencies that they were assigned to.
In fact, they assimilate themselves so well that no one will suspect anything, even when a MACC swoop is carried out.
The presence of these officers sends a clear warning to public officers to think twice before engaging in corrupt practices because ‘big brother’ is clearly watching.
But what is frustrating to observe is the fact that despite the presence of the MACC officers, nothing much has changed.
Despite their best efforts, corruption and wrongdoing still run rampant down the halls of various government departments.
MACC’s Azam previously said, in relation to ‘project tender cartel’, that there were no way heads of government departments were unaware that some of their staff were taking bribes from said cartel.
In this case, Azam claimed that the heads of departments tended to turn a blind eye to staff misdemeanour and ethical problems to protect the Government’s reputation.
While this may be true, it also suggests that the anti-graft agency’s methods are no longer effective, seeing as to how the crooked government officials are no longer cowed by MACC’s presence.
But one thing that’s for sure is that corrupted government officers must be brought to justice as soon as possible, and the only way to do this is to perhaps do a revamp of the entire process.
Who knows, MACC might be able to take down all the crooks in one fell swoop. – May 6, 2021
