No plans to widen corporate liability law to include civil servants, says Azalina

Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said existing provisions in the MACC Act are sufficient to curb corruption in the civil service. (Azalina Othman pic)

PETALING JAYA: The government has no plans to widen the scope of a law that punishes companies for their employees’ involvement in corruption to include civil servants, Azalina Othman Said said.

The law and institutional reform minister said it was not suitable to use Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act – that deals with corporate liability – on a head of a government department for offences committed by their subordinates.

“Any corrupt practices by a civil servant is the action of an individual and not something a head of department would sanction a subordinate to do, especially when it comes to receiving bribes,” she said in a written reply.

Azalina said this in response to Wee Jack Seng (BN-Tanjung Piai) who wanted to know if Section 17A of the MACC Act would be expanded to include civil servants.

She said there were several sections in the MACC Act that allowed for action to be taken against corrupt civil servants including, Section 16 to Section 21 and Section 23.

“The existing provisions are sufficient to curb corruption in the civil service.”

Section 17A of the MACC Act was passed in Parliament on April 5, 2018, allowing companies to be charged for corrupt practices.

Under the law, commercial organisations would be committing an offence if any of its employees or those associated with it was involved in corruption for the benefit of the organisation.

It was enforced in June 2020.

Prior to the provision, the law focused only on the prosecution of individuals involved in corruption.