Anwar’s corruption-busting campaign opens up a Pandora’s box of greed: Sin Chew Daily

KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has kick-started his corruption-busting campaign, which we hope will reverse the culture of corruption in Malaysia’s civil service lethally bogging down the government’s image as well as the country’s economic development.

Individuals probed must not be from only selected parties, and irrespective of their seniority or offices held, must be penalised if found guilty.

Corruption in this country has been as omnipresent as air, sunlight and water over the last few decades, and has become a part of Malaysia’s corporate sector, civil service and even the day-to-day lives of ordinary Malaysians.

It appears that the only way to bring the dust out from under the carpet is to change the government and its chief commander.

Greed is very much an innate quality of humanity, otherwise we would have been from the scourge of corruption during the 4½ between May 2018, when we changed our federal government for the first time since independence, and the 15th General Election last November.

It all started with the discovery of RM300 million (S$90.4 million) of dubious origin in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s bank accounts.

Subsequently, the party’s information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan was slapped with two counts of charges for soliciting and receiving RM7 million in bribes. The first charge involved soliciting bribes from a businessman as an inducement for him to help a company, Nepturis, secure a government highway project at the pre-qualification stage in April 2020.

Additionally, Wan Saiful was charged with receiving through his company, WSA Advisory Group, RM6.96 million from Nepturis between July and September 2022, to help Nepturis secure a letter of acceptance for the highway project.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin pointed out later that the party was a victim of “selective prosecution”, as several of the party’s leaders had been charged with collecting funds to carry out political activities.

Wan Saiful’s case may just be the tip of the iceberg. Bigger cases may be uncovered soon.

Even though Tan Sri Muhyiddin has cried foul over the charges faced by Bersatu’s leaders, conditional offers (money in exchange for a project) cannot be indemnified from prosecution. Therefore, we will leave it to the court to decide the legality of the party’s RM300 million in questionable funds.

Datuk Seri Anwar says the government will take stern action against anyone involved in corruption, whether the person is from any specific party or is the relative of an important person.

The Prime Minister also says the government will never allow any company to rake in unjustified profits in the name of helping bumiputera companies, including demanding that the companies bank in specific amounts of money into personal or party bank accounts.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists started publishing some 11.9 million confidential records known as the Pandora Papers in October 2021, exposing the tricks of almost 100 national leaders, billionaires and socialites who used their offshore companies to conceal their wealth to the tune of US$32 trillion (S$42.9 trillion), including real estate, works of art, jewellery and other non-monetary assets, for tax evasion purposes.

Back then, Mr Anwar, in his capacity as opposition leader, had urged Parliament to discuss the content of the Pandora Papers which implicated, among others, then Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

Now that he has become the prime minister, Mr Anwar has instructed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Royal Malaysian Police, Bank Negara, the Inland Revenue Department and the Labuan Financial Services Authority investigating the matters exposed by the Pandora Papers to summon those involved for explanation.

Those involved will be required to explain why they have set up offshore accounts to hold hundreds of millions of ringgit in assets from sources they have not been able to account for.

The Prime Minister says that some 3,000 names worldwide were mentioned in the Pandora Papers, although few countries have taken any action against the people involved. Nevertheless, Malaysia has resolved to initiate investigations where it can, to stem illegal fund transfers.

Mr Anwar also says that the authorities will focus their investigations on politicians, including former prime ministers and finance ministers, because these people could have abused their powers during their tenures to transfer their personal wealth out of the country.

It is believed that many politicians on both sides of the divide will have sleepless nights after learning about Mr Anwar’s resolve to unveil the secrets found inside the Pandora Papers. As for ordinary citizens like us, we fully support the prime minister’s move.

Anyone found guilty of siphoning illegitimate funds into their own bank accounts must be dealt with sternly. SIN CHEW DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK