This was the proposal made by the MACC Chief Commissioner who said those who are found guilty of corruption should be declared bankrupt to stop them from enjoying stolen public funds.
Despite the outpouring of resistance against his reappointment, not once but thrice, this is probably the most serious comment made by the Chief Commissioner that received undeniable overwhelming support from all Malaysians minus those corrupt thousands or millions who have been living off their largese from corrupt activities.
Show Malaysians that your commitment to minimise this scourge is not verbal but is action in full motion.
In the months ahead, are you bold enough and have the courage to introduce and push through a legislation similar or something akin to what the UK and Singapore have introduced i.e have laws targeting unexplained wealth?
The UK introduced Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) via the 2017 Criminal Finances Act to compel explanations for suspicious assets while Singapore enacted laws allowing courts to sell seized assets from major money laundering cases.
The UWO is an investigation order issued by the High Court of England and Wales upon the application of various enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom.
It is a civil power.
The issuance of a UWO against a party does not mean that the party has been found guilty of a criminal offence.
Once the High Court makes a UWO, the respondent is required to provide a statement setting out the nature and extent of the respondent's interest in the property, explain how the respondent obtained the property including, in particular, how any costs incurred in obtaining it were met, where the property is held by trustees, setting out details of the settlement as specified in the UWO etc.
A contravention of this order will result in the property being presumed to be “recoverable property”.
This allows the enforcement authority applying for the UWO to subsequently bring civil recovery proceedings, which may result in a confiscation of the property by the English courts.
Respondents who recklessly or knowingly provide false or misleading statements could be sentenced to imprisonment or fines upon conviction.
Meanwhile, Section 47AA of Singapore's Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA) is a penal provision, penalising the inability to explain the provenance of the property within Singapore’s main anti-money laundering legislation.
It creates a criminal offence where a person fails to account satisfactorily how he or she came to use or be in possession of property reasonably suspected to be part of proceeds of drug dealing or other serious offences.
It provides that: “any person who possesses or uses any property that may be reasonably suspected of being, or of in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, representing, any benefits of drug dealing or benefits from criminal conduct shall, if the person fails to account satisfactorily how the person came by the property, be guilty of an offence.”
The prosecution merely has to establish a “reasonable suspicion” - the test of a “reasonable suspicion” is significantly lower than the civil standard of burden of proof on a balance of probabilities - that the property used or possessed represents the benefits of drug dealing or a serious offence whether in Singapore or otherwise.
There is no requirement to prove that (i) the property be of a certain value; and (ii) there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the respondent’s income would be insufficient for him to obtain such a property.
If Malaysia were to introduce and or adopt anew legislation along the lines of what the governments in UK and Singapore had done, probably the ordinary rakyat would believe your continued assertion that you and your government are indeed sincere and serious in minimising corruption in this country.
FLK (leekhean.foo@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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