MACC- High expenditure, low performance

By Stephanie Sta Maria

Teo Nie Ching says that MACC's low conviction rate doesn't justify its whopping allocation and expenditure.

PETALING JAYA: Serdang MP, Teo Nie Ching, has taken the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to task for the gross mismatch between its poor track record and inordinate operating expenditure.

Last Wednesday, Teo had questioned Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on the expenses incurred by MACC in hiring international forensic expert, Peter Vanezis and lawyer, Muhamad Shafee Abdullah, for the Teoh Beng Hock inquest and Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) respectively.

A written reply from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nazri Abdul Aziz, put down the total expenditure for Vanezis at RM90,680 and for Shafee at RM150,000.

While Teo acknowledged that both individuals’ high consultation fees were justified based on their “specialised and complicated” fields, she added that the expenditure was insignificant to MACC due to its increasingly large federal allocation.

“MACC’s operating expenditure for 2010 and 2011 amounted to RM168 million and RM202 million respectively, and the federal allocation for 2012 has been increased to a whopping RM211 million,” Teo said in a press statement today.

“(Vanezis and Shafee’s) high charges have made the voluntary contributions by Thai forensic expert, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, and the Teoh family’s lawyers, (Jelutong MP) Karpal Singh and (Puchong MP) Gobind Singh, stand out even more.”

Teo, who is also the DAP assistant publicity secretary, pointed out that Pornthip had testified four times in Malaysia and participated in the second autopsy on Teoh’s remains while Karpal and Gobind had been fighting for Teoh’s family for three years.

“Seeing as huge amount of taxpayers’ money has been spent by MACC, it is only right that the people demand a satisfactory performance from it,” she stated.

“Compared to conviction rates of almost 100 percent in Indonesia, 85 percent in Singapore and 95 percent in Hong Kong, the conviction rate in Malaysia is a pathetic 73 percent.”

Teo noted that resolved cases by MACC in 2010 and 2011 amounted to 435 and 403 respectively. She further calculated that with a conviction rate of 73 percent, the average cost of a successful prosecution was RM529,050 for 2010 and RM457,754 for 2011.

“Since its inception on Jan 1, 2009, the MACC has been implicated in two suspicious deaths within its premises but until today, we do not see any ‘big fishes’ being brought to book,” Teo said.

She also questioned whether former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, former transport minister Chan Kong Choy and former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo will fall within the 73 percent range or be part of the 27 percent who are acquitted.

Source : FMT