Most people who work for companies, especially multinationals, are aware that they cannot receive gifts over a certain value, often RM50, and that they must declare the gifts given to them by contractors and clients.
They must also inform the human resources department or their bosses if they were entertained with dinner or received any hospitality from their clients. Such hospitality could be in the form of paid holidays, the use of apartments, or services.
The reason for rejecting expensive gifts is simple. Anyone who receives a gift is beholden to the giver, which may influence the results of a chemical trial, a test or a survey, or the awarding of a contract.
The higher the value of the award, the more important it is for factors such as gifts to be excluded from the final decision-making.
The same rules should apply to politicians, governments and government departments. Taxpayers’ money should not be abused in this way.
In many companies, giving money to company officials is considered a bribe, and the recipients face instant dismissal. The same should apply to politicians and government servants.
A few days ago, Malaysians were shocked by the haul of luxury goods from last month’s raid on properties linked to former prime minister Najib Razak.
Police said the value of the items was between RM900 million and RM1.1 billion. The items included 567 handbags from 37 brands, over 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 423 watches and 234 pairs of sunglasses.
The haul also included RM116.7 million in cash of various currencies. To date, no Umno members have come forward to claim the money, although several days after the raid, various party officials have claimed that it was part of Umno’s campaign fund.
When Najib questioned the value of the goods, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the valuation had been conducted by experts who spent over a month collating the information.
Najib claimed that he was like most husbands and clueless about his wife’s penchant for jewellery and luxury goods. One can understand a husband who is confused about a few bags of jewellery and a closet full of handbags and shoes, but can we believe Najib when he says he was unaware of his wife’s enormous collection of bags, watches, sunglasses and jewellery?
He also tried to play down the haul of goods, claiming that Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also received many gifts during his tenure as prime minister.
He said in 2010, he had proposed a system of declaring gifts for politicians and blamed the opposition for rejecting his proposal. This is a lame excuse.
Why didn’t he push for the system in the eight years before he was removed from office? He managed to push other policies and bills like the hudud bill, the anti-fake news bill and the draconian Sedition Act.
Abu Kassim Mohamed, the head of the governance, integrity and anti-corruption centre, says the policy on banning expensive gifts will be extended to members of the public administration and political officers. Mahathir himself has announced that gifts should be limited to fruits, flowers and food.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
IGP rubbishes Najib’s claim of ‘subjective, unrealistic’ valuation