PUTRAJAYA: The government plans to introduce new legislation on governing political funding and to include an offence on lobbying.
Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) director-general Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed said the centre had been engaging with political parties to get their input and to hear their concerns on political funding.
He said among the issues being discussed are the amount and types of funding, and the kind of processes to put in place regarding them.
“With this law, parties will have to disclose all sources of funding, including donations.”
“If this is not adhered to, there will be punitive action,“ he said to reporters after attending the launch of the five-year National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) here today.
Abu Kassim said GIACC is at the tail-end of getting feedback from political parties before presenting it to the Cabinet.
After getting the green light, the matter will be left to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to draft the law.
Abu Kassim said he also proposed in the new act that foreign donations are to be prohibited.
Political funding legislation is one of 22 priority initiatives out of a total of 115 outlined in the NACP.
Meanwhile, Abu Kassim added that the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) will be empowered to take disciplinary action against personnel guilty of an offence.
“We are getting final input from the attorney-general on certain issues, before finalising the draft to be tabled in Parliament.
“This includes the commission’s power to take enforcement action against personnel involved in misconduct. We hope that the bill will be tabled soon,“ he added.
IPCMC, an independent body, will replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) to receive complaints on enforcers and carry out investigations on the personnel’s misconduct.
IPCMC was originally mooted in 2005 following engagements between the police, civil society groups and Bar Council representatives in a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) which later called for a review of the police’s authority.
