MMEA: No compromise on errant officers
TUMPAT: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will come down hard on its officers and staff should they be found to be involved in corruption and abuse of power.
Its director-general, Admiral Datuk Seri Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar, said the agency would not compromise on the issue as it could jeopardise national security and the well-being of the people and the country.
“So far, none of our people have been detained for such cases.
“However, we are on the alert and we will take precautionary measures whenever there are possibilities that such things may happen,” he said here yesterday.
Puzi said the agency would not protect anyone involved in such activities and this was a stand consistent with that of the government’s.
Puzi said one method MMEA was using to curb misdeeds was to have its officers and personnel declare their assets from time to time, and not merely at the proscribed five-year interval.
Any staff who is believed to be living beyond his or her means would be investigated.
Puzi said the agency’s personnel were transferred periodically as to prevent the possibility of them getting too close to “any interested parties”.
On allegations that enforcement personnel who might be on the take had contributed to the allegedly large number of foreign vessels encroaching the country’s waters, Puzi said agencies could not take up immediate enforcement when there were reports of encroachment as Malaysian territorial waters were vast and the information was usually received late.
On another matter, Puzi said MMEA had spent RM100 million on search-and-rescue (SAR) operations since its formation in 2006.
He said the cost was high as SAR operations involved the use of vessels and aircraft.