MELAKA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested 326 members of the public for offering or giving bribes between January and November, this year.
Its Investigation Division director, Datuk Mustafar Ali said of the number of cases, 61 involved foreign nationals with the bribes offered from as low as RM5 to RM700,000.
He said 155 public servants were also arrested during the same period for accepting bribes.
“The situation has changed now where more members of the public have been arrested for offering bribes compared to the number of public servants nabbed for bribery.
“The tendency of foreign nationals to try to bribe our public servants is rather worrying as it can dent the credibility of our enforcement agencies, as though their personnel can easily be bought.”
Mustafar said this at a news conference after the official opening of the Melaka MACC Complex, here, yesterday by MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.
He said the statistics, however, showed the number of arrests involving the public to be dropping in the last three years, from 651 in 2010 to 595 in 2011 and 413 in 2012.
“This positive development is the result of close cooperation between the MACC and other enforcement agencies like the police and Road Transport Department to stem bribery among the public.”
Mustafar said 63 individuals were charged in court, with 53 of them convicted this year for offering or giving bribes.
The offence is punishable with imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, which ever is higher. — Bernama