Senior Govt servants won’t be spared: ACA
KOTA KINABALU:
You may be holding the highest post in the department, but in the eyes of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), everyone is equal. “If you commit an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act, you will not be spared ... we will get to you sooner or later,” said State ACA Director Latifah Md Yatim yesterday. She stressed that two persons, a senior State Education Department officer and a Police Sergeant, were charged at the Sessions Court here for separate corruption charges yesterday. “In both cases, we had carried out year-long investigations, closely monitoring their activities and when we had enough evidence and the time was right, we made the arrest and charged them in court,” she said. Latifah said the education officer is facing 21 corruption charges, mostly for falsifying documents, of which 11 cases have been charged in court, involving cash amounting to RM105,900. The other case involves a sergeant attached to the Traffic and Public Order Unit here who was caught red handed receiving RM300 from an offender. Latifah said that with limited manpower, it was difficult for them to move around. “Therefore, we are calling on the public to help us by providing us with information. Many of our cases were tipped off by the people,” she said, including the big seizure of subsidized diesel in Sandakan and Tawau recently. Latifah added the ACA was also probing reports lodged on misconducts and other cases during the general election. “We received quite a number of reports and are investigating,” she said. When asked if the reports involved politicians, she answered: “There is no need to mention. We are trying to complete our investigation.” Meanwhile, the ACA Sabah will be holding a bilateral meeting with their counterparts from Brunei Darussalam for three days, beginning April 16 at the Le Meridien Hotel.
