HELP University appoints Akhbar Satar as chief integrity officer
KUCHING: HELP University has appointed Datuk Seri Akhbar Satar as chief integrity officer.
He is Transparency Malaysia immediate past president as well as Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Malaysian Chapter founder and president.
In a statement yesterday, Akhbar said there has been a sharp increase in the number of appointments for chief integrity officers in public and private organisations since June this year, when the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) began to enforce Section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 (amendment 2018).
“Under the provision of 17A, commercial organisations are liable and can be punished if their employees or associates are involved in corruption,” he said.
With these latest governance initiatives, the government is encouraging investors and boards of directors to improve their corporate governance to improve the risk management of their business and long-term sustainability.
This also protects their strategic assets, in particular the valuable reputation of the corporation, board of directors, and management.
HELP University president and vice-chancellor Datuk Prof Dr Paul Chan said Akhbar’s appointment showed the university’s commitment towards good governance.
He stressed that there is no be er qualified professional than Akhbar to assume this critical role as chief integrity officer.
During the last few months, Akhbar led a team of experts to train more than 600 HELP University staff in corporate governance and the enforcement of Section 17A, as well as developed a reference manual for this purpose.
Chan said in the professional fraternity, Akhbar is a recognised criminologist and crime analyst and currently holds a professorial chair and serves as senior research fellow at HELP University’s Institute of Crime and Criminology.
“His expertise is recognised worldwide. Among other positions, Akhbar was appointed by the government as a member of the National Consultative Commi ee on Political Funding and in 2019 on the Investigative Commi ee for Governance, Procurement and Governance Finance as a commi ee member. This commi ee is chaired by Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, Malaysia’s former auditor-general,” he added.
This year, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appointed Akhbar as an Anti-Corruption Advisory Board and MACC board member.
Akhbar has also been invited to speak at many forums, seminars, and conferences on fraud, corruption, ethics, integrity, and detection of deception both locally and internationally.
He will also speak during a webinar series on good governance and corruption this month.