MACC opens 36 cases following federal audit

By Debra Chong
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 26 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has opened up 36 files to investigate the public sector following the Auditor-General’s Report 2010 released two days ago.
In a statement yesterday, the national graftbuster said the investigations were initiated based on public feedback after the federal audit revealed discrepancies in the spending of various government ministries, agencies and companies over the past year.
It said Sabah and Perak topped the list of ongoing investigations with seven cases each.
This was followed by Kedah and Terengganu with six files each; three in Penang; and two cases each in Sarawak and Putrajaya.

The two-year-old commission, which was also taken to task in the recent audit report for being among nine government departments that overspent their allocations by 0.73 per cent, also acted promptly to explain its action.
The MACC defended the excess payments as due to the federal government’s directive last year to pay a special government financial aid scheme for officers ranked Grade 54 and below.
“The excessive spending does not mean MACC breached any Treasure rules or any other financial management procedure but actually was approved by the government as it actually a bonus payment approved by the government,” it said in the statement.