JPA said in a statement today that the review aimed to align policies with current needs and developments across the government, economic, business and technological landscape.

It said government entities were required to review regulatory instruments under their jurisdictions every three years under the Public Service Efficiency Commitment Act 2025, which came into force on Dec 1, 2025.

This was reinforced in the Public Service Efficiency Commitment Circular No 1/2025.

“As such, any circulars, regulations and guidelines that are more than 20 years old or no longer relevant are being reviewed and updated, including those related to outside employment and share ownership by public officers,” the department said.

The spotlight on shareholding rules followed a Bloomberg report alleging that Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki held 17.7 million shares in Velocity Capital Bhd, or 1.7%, based on the company’s annual return lodged on Feb 3 last year.

The report claimed that Azam’s name still appeared on the company’s register of shareholders at the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

This was said to be in breach of a 2024 government circular, which states that civil servants may hold shares in Malaysian-incorporated companies only if the holdings do not exceed 5% of the paid-up capital or RM100,000 in value, whichever is lower.

Azam said he had proactively declared his shareholdings to JPA in July 2025 and disposed of them within the same year.

He also said he would be sending Bloomberg a letter of demand over the article, which he described as “malicious” and damaging to his reputation and that of MACC.