RM5m for Prihatin foundation under MACC (Updated)

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced a special allocation of RM5 million towards the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)'s Prihatin foundation as part of the government's efforts to aid the commission's officers.
Speaking at the launch of MACC's new headquarters here today, Najib said the government will continue to support MACC in its endeavours against graft, corruption and power abuse that remains a threat to the people and the country's future.
"I hope that our 55th position under the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception 2017 will improve under the new era for the commission.
"If we are able to fight this (current ranking), Malaysia will be a successful country that is respected, progressive and competitive," he said during his speech at the launch of MACC's new headquarters, and Golden Jubilee celebration.
The launch of the new Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) complex, which is the world's largest anti-corruption complex, was also attended by Dewan Negara president Tan Sri S.A Vigneswaran as well as key MACC personnel.
Stating that the country will be able to achieve its aspirations and goals if becomes corruption-free, Najib said initiatives had been put in place to improve transparency under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).
"One of the improvements includes the setting-up of the compliance units at the five critical enforcement agencies namely the the police force, the Immigration Department, the Customs Department, the Road Transport Department and the MACC.
"As part of the National Key Results Area (NKRA), the government also established 14 special courts to fast track corruption cases with immediate results, with more cases being brought before the court and reported," he said.
Earlier, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad said MACC recorded 405 cases involving graft and corruption between August 2016 and last month, marking an increase of 32.83%.
Meanwhile, Najib also announced that tender bidding procedures for the country's iconic projects in the future will be based on the model derived from the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang tender bidding process.
Najib opined major projects should be assessed professionally in terms of costs and technical application of the model used.
"MRT has been successfully completed on schedule and within the budget without any problems and scandal.
"When I was chairing the ternder committee for the MRT project, I picked out the winning tender like the Oscars through the envelope.
"But even then the committee and I did not know the name of the company who had bid for the tender, because we were only given codes such as PT1, PT2 or PT3 to identify them," he said.
Najib said he only learnt of the company that won the tender following a letter sent by the chief executive to him afterwards.
While major government projects should not just be free from corruption, he stressed that quality should not be compromised as well.
"When a contract is awarded, it should not be riddled corruption-related problems. However, if the project turns out to be of low quality, various problems will arise and the project will fail as a result," he added.