PM: Govt closely monitoring enforcement agencies

PUTRAJAYA: The government is closely monitoring enforcement agencies to prevent fraud towards fighting corruption, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He hoped that through the monitoring, it would avoid fraudulent activities such as bribery among civil servants who are tasked with safeguarding national security and interest.

“This is a reminder to the Customs, IRB (Inland Revenue Board) and immigration (department).

“We are monitoring closely and I hope that we can avoid these reports of fraud,” said the prime minister, who is also the Finance Minister, at the ministry’s assembly here Tuesday.

He said the fraud did not involve all enforcement personnel, but only a few, with some, forced to accept because of the culture in their agencies.

Anwar emphasised that the reported corruption case involving officers of the Customs Department should not give a bad image to civil servants.

He said this was because it only involved a small number of individuals in the department.

“I congratulate the Director-General of Customs (Datuk Anis Rizana Mohd Zainudin) for not looking at it negatively, continue to take action, transfer and take disciplinary action (against personnel involved).

“Don’t let these few people tarnish the image of the public service, “he said.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki was reported to have said that a total of 34 law enforcement personnel and 27 individuals and company owners have been arrested through Ops Samba 2.0 for protecting and facilitating the activities of smuggling syndicates, resulting in losses of more than RM2 billion for the country.