KUALA LUMPUR: Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 (Amendment 2018) which comes into force today will encourage business activities with good integrity and promote good corporate governance practices.
In essence, under Section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 (Amendment 2018), commercial organisations are also liable to punishment if their employees or associates are involved in crimes of corruption.
The MACC, in a statement, said the date of enforcement was issued by the power of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan through the Federal Government Gazette P.U. (B) 247 dated May 27, 2020.
According to the statement, Parliament passed the amendment on April 5, 2018 and gazetted it on May 4, 2018 and the government had also allowed a two-year delay to be given to commercial organisations from that date for appropriate preparation before the provisions of the new law come into force completely.
“If a commercial organisation is found guilty, the penalty under Section 17A (2) is a fine of not less than 10 times the value of the bribe or RM1 million, whichever is higher, or imprisonment for up to 20 years, or both.
“However, commercial organisations can defend themselves if they can show that they have adequate procedures in place to prevent corruption in their operations or businesses,“ it said.
Those who want to find out more about the provisions of the new law can visit the official MACC portal at https://www.sprm.gov.my/ while for more detailed guidelines, they can visit the link http://giacc.jpm.gov.my/garis-panduan-tatacara. - Bernama
