Dewan Rakyat: 617 govt employees held over corruption

NST

A TOTAL of 617 government employees from various departments were picked up for corruption between 2005 and April this year by the Anti-Corruption Agency, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

During the same period, 304 other employees were prosecuted for various offences, he said in a written reply to a question from Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera).

"Of the number detained, 394 or 63.9 per cent were law enforcement personnel, while 169 or 55.6 per cent of the enforcement personnel have been prosecuted."

Ismail had asked the prime minister to state the number of government servants, particularly in the enforcement section, who had been arrested and charged under the Anti-Corruption Act and the details according to their designations.

Abdullah said members of the police force comprised the biggest number of law enforcement personnel detained and charged, with 296 arrests and 128 of the cases brought to court.
Next, came employees in local authorities, with 36 arrested and 16 charged; Customs Department (20 arrested, seven charged); Road Transport Department (17 arrested, nine charged); Immigration Department (13 arrested, four charged); and, other departments (12 arrested, five charged), he added.

Abdullah said though the percentages of law enforcement personnel arrested and charged were high, various other factors had to be considered, such as the high number of personnel, financial allocation, jurisdiction and activities entrusted to the agencies involved. — Bernama