KUALA NERUS: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is conducting an investigation to recover the country’s revenues lost through Operation Grip.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed that no follow-up arrests have been made so far.
He stated that the Special Operations Division and Anti-Money Laundering Division are performing financial analysis on all involved companies.
Azam explained that the investigation remains at the preliminary stage and will require significant time.
“It not only focuses on the aspect of corruption and abuse of power for the purpose of prosecution, but also uses the recovery approach of assets or property to recover the country’s revenue lost due to tax leakage and certain protections.”
“We are bringing a new approach to the investigation, which is to ensure that assets or property lost due to leakage can be returned to the government because they did not pay taxes and so on,“ he told reporters after the award ceremony for the Anti-Corruption Student Volunteer Corps Cadets at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin.
Azam identified two categories of revenue leakage affecting the country.
He detailed that these include failure to collect revenue and losses due to illegal tax evasion activities.
Azam confirmed that the MACC is leading a multi-agency task force including Bank Negara Malaysia, the Inland Revenue Board, and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department.
He emphasized that this collaboration ensures proper implementation of enforcement integrity.
The MACC is currently conducting money trails of involved companies through forensic accounting methods.
Azam noted that this process aims to identify assets that need to be repossessed by authorities.
“This is one matter that requires time because we need to get hold of bank documents, conduct forensic accounting to scrutinise the accounts of the companies involved.”
“Secondly, these criminals must be ‘made bankrupt’ and they no longer need to be in business,“ he said.
When questioned about recovered funds, Azam clarified that no money has been returned yet.
He explained that the investigation currently focuses on reviewing historical accounts and calculation processes by involved agencies.
“The acquisition or return of these assets is not only carried out by the MACC.”
“That is why we are working with the IRB and Customs.”
“Whoever evades taxes has to pay,“ he concluded. – Bernama
