Azmi Kamaruzaman, a deputy chief commissioner, said statistics collated since 2000 showed that some 2,337 Malaysians between the ages of 16 and 40 have been arrested for various corruption offences.

Most of the offences centred on offering and receiving bribes. Some also made false claims or abused their positions as well as laundered money, TV3 quoted him as saying.

He added that some 1,073 people had been hauled to court, of whom 575 have since been convicted for their offences.

“Based on this data, it shows that corruption among youth is serious and this needs to be curbed to prevent such practices from being normalised,” he was quoted as saying.

Azmi said the young would be a determining factor in the war against corruption as they were “agents of change”, Bernama reported.

There was a necessity for youths to take note of developed countries that address issues of integrity, he said. “They will move ahead compared to us who have not been able to resolve (issues of integrity) for years.”