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The Star - April 2, 2008
Declare and update assets
KUALA LUMPUR: The requirement that elected
representatives declare their assets should be expanded
by requiring them to update this information on a
continuous basis, said Transparency
International-Malaysia (TI-M).
It said that more should be done to enhance the Prime
Minister’s directive that Cabinet ministers, deputy
ministers and their spouses declare their assets.
TI-M president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said that the
declaration of assets by the officials should also
include liabilities as well.
He proposed that the asset declaration be updated on a
continuous basis and not just once every two years.
This is so that the public could be made instantly aware
when these officials and their immediate family members
acquire new assets or liabilities, he added.
He acknowledged the risks involved in making public such
declarations as public knowledge of a person’s assets
and liabilities can expose them to security threats.
Navaratnam said that if the proposals were adopted, the
public officials would start on a clean slate, but that
should not exempt them from investigations by the
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) if they had accumulated
ill-gotten gains in the past.
On the ACA, Navaratnam said the agency should be made
fully independent so that it could fight corruption more
effectively.
He said all relevant laws should be scrutinised and
amended to combat corruption.
“A Freedom of Information Act and a Whistleblowers
Protection Act should be introduced to ensure the
success of the Government’s moves to fight corruption,”
he added.
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