They are of the view that the increase in allocation can boost the body’s efforts in tackling corruption.
The government yesterday announced that it would allocate a total of RM286.8 million for the operating expenses of MACC, an increase of 18.5% from the RM242.1 million allocated last year.
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Akhbar Satar welcomed the announcement, saying the increase was a fair one, considering the country’s current fiscal position.
“It is a good thing for the MACC, as it gives them the opportunity to act more effectively in their operations and preventive actions.
“They will also be able to take action in high profile cases, including getting back money which had been misappropriated by those who are corrupt,” he told FMT when contacted.
Akhbar said the budget increase and the plan to increase staff strength by 100 new officers next year could help reduce the workload of current personnel in investigating complicated and time consuming high profile cases, which also required skilled investigative knowledge.
“This is a good move to strengthen MACC, by giving more money, enabling them to buy the equipment they need, send officers for more training that will improve their skills to conduct better investigations,” he said.
Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said: “MACC needs more resources and skills, so it is good that there is an increase. This needs to be accompanied by structural reforms to make it fearlessly independent.”