TRANSPARENCY International Malaysia (TI-M) has called for the government to be transparent in its implementation of mechanisms that will prevent the possible abuse of the House Arrest Bill 2025 to benefit VIPs and convicts involved in serious crimes.
Its president Muhammad Mohan said potential pardons and VIP treatment for crimes such as corruption and money laundering will affect the public’s trust in the government’s commitment to the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
“TI-M lauds the government’s efforts to modernise the Malaysian Penal and criminal justice system with the introduction of the House Arrest Bill 2025,” he stated.
“Prison overcrowding in a major issue in many developed and developing states in the world. Most countries have looked to non-custodial sentences or house arrest, especially for minor offences and for inmates who are critically ill or pregnant.”
However, Muhammad acknowledged that the timing of the Bill’s enactment has the people feeling anxious.
He said after former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s partial pardon in respect of his corruption case with little to no closure from the government and the Pardons Board over the decision, perceptions are rife as to whether the new legislation’s timing is meant to benefit certain individuals.
For context, the Federal Territories Pardons Board had announced on Feb 2 that Najib’s initial 12-year jail term has been halved to six years, which means he can be released earlier on Aug 23, 2028.
Najib was convicted for corruption in the multi-billion 1MDB scandal that shook the country and the financial world and began serving his 12-year jail term in Aug 2022.
The Pardons Board said it had also decided to reduce his RM210 mil fine to RM50 mil, and his early release would be contingent on him paying this amount.
If he fails to do so, his early release date will be a year later on Aug 23, 2029.
“TI-M urges the government to go beyond mere promises and transparently implement mechanisms that will prevent the possible abuse of the house arrest legislation to benefit VIPs and convicts involved in serious crimes and public interest offenses for political purposes,” stressed Muhammad.
“Potential pardons and VIP treatment for the abuse of power, grand corruption and money laundering will definitely give rise to negative perceptions among the public and civil society on the Malaysian government’s commitment to the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and certainly adversely affect the government’s ambitions of reaching the top 25 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by 2033.
“Therefore, when the Bill is drafted or proposed, TI-M appeals that both corruption and money laundering cases and other specific offences should be excluded from the House Arrest Bill regardless of whether the convict is a senior citizen, a former government servant or is of any other status.
“Failure to ensure this is explicitly addressed when the bill is drafted and if convicts of such cases are allowed to get jail terms converted to house arrest, then the government will be seen to have effectively undermined the prosecution and the MACC for all the hard work they have done to bring such criminals to book.” – Nov 5, 2024
