PUTRAJAYA: Asset declarations by ministers must be a truly transparent and responsible process, and not done as a political gimmick, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
To ensure this, the Prime Minister said he is working with the relevant agencies, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), to see how the process can be further improved.
He said that in the past, ministers were directed to declare their assets, but he questioned whether the value that was declared was actually what certain individuals actually owned.
“As far as I am concerned, declaration of assets in the past was a farce. Because you find people having hundreds of millions of ringgit and still declaring RM11mil or RM12mil,” he said to a question whether his Cabinet members had been directed to declare their assets.
Anwar said what needs to be done is to ensure that the parameters (of the asset declaration) are clear, so that it is more transparent.
“Otherwise, it is a mockery (of the process),” he added.
The Prime Minister said he is appalled by the fact that the public is not critical and accepted the declarations at face value.
“Now when we look at the figures and files, it is shocking that most didn’t tell the truth.
“The public is satisfied, civil society is satisfied, but it does not reflect the real wealth of the person who declared.
“The priority now is to make sure decisions are made responsibly and transparently, rather than making it a political gimmick,” he said.
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over the administration in 2018, he had directed his ministers to reveal their assets.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also asked the same during his premiership.
When Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was prime minister, he went a step further to include the judiciary and chief executives of government-linked companies and government-linked investment companies to declare their assets to the MACC.
