Mitra was officially notified of the status through a letter signed by MACC’s agency integrity management division director Nor Azmi Karim on Nov 22. The contents of the letter were verified by Bernama.

Mitra’s special task force committee chairman R Ramanan said he received the letter two days ago.

“I would like to thank MACC for their close cooperation and full support of Mitra all this while. This ‘low-risk’ status will have a positive impact on this agency.”

He said their main mission and focus had been to clean up the poor image of Mitra following a lot of accusations and allegations regarding misappropriation of funds and other issues over the last few years.

Ramanan, who is Sungai Buloh MP, said the Indian community also had a poor perception of the agency following several cases that went to court.

“That’s why I am determined to strengthen Mitra’s delivery system, especially regarding integrity and transparency. This rating status is a good start for us.”

Mitra director-general K Raveendran Nair described the status notification as “long-awaited”.

“This rating is definitely a great sign after so many baseless and reckless accusations. We are giving priority for a clean, efficient and reliable delivery system.”