Published: Saturday January 28, 2012 MYT 12:01:00 PM

MACC encourages GLCs, firms to sign integrity pledge

KUALA LUMPUR: Government-linked (GLCs) and private companies that sign a corporate integrity pledge would create a business environment free of corruption, said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"We won't force them to sign the pledge but we encourage them to do so because when they do, it reflects a consensus among us to combat corruption and enhances the confidence among foreign investors that there is a healthy competition among businesses in Malaysia," its deputy chief commissioner Datuk Sutinah Sutan said.

Sutinah said among the important elements of the pledge was the Corporate Integrity Pact which would be signed by companies involved in the procurement of a project.

Through the pact, she said, the parties offering and those accepting a project would pledge not to engage in any corrupt practices throughout the process and to report to the MACC if there was any bribery attempt.

She said the MACC would cooperate with the companies to ensure corrupt-free operations and help resolve possible incidence of corruption.

She pointed out that stiff competition among companies had caused some to resort to corrupt practices to obtain a project.

"Companies with high ethics would use their actual capabilities to obtain a contract; but there are also those who take the easy way out by offering bribes," she aid.

Sutinah stressed that corruption, irrespective of the amount of bribes, was still corruption because each of such acts were done in exchange of certain gratifications.

"There is no such thing as minor or major corruption; that's just a perception. Even an RM1 bribe is still a corruption if we are giving it with certain motives involved," she said. BERNAMA

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