Saturday 5 May 2012

Anti-Corruption Efforts


Analysts at the Justice Ministry have reviewed official statistics and concluded that there has been no improvement in the battle against corruption. The actual number of corrupt officials exposed and punished has not increased over the last three years, though the topic is much more frequently in the news.

Judging from media reporting on the subject, the battle against corruption is being waged effectively. Reports about such crimes have become far more frequent in the past year, according to data from Medialogia.

From January 2008 through fall 2009, about 100 instances of corruption being "exposed" were reported daily, according to the company's analysis of more than 4,500 media sources. Last fall, the number of such reports peaked at 224 per day and then leveled off at an average of 125 daily.

The real situation remains unchanged, however, according to the Justice Ministry's corruption research institute, which analyzed police and judicial data.

Researchers compared data from 2007 to 2009 from the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court's legal department about the leading corruption crimes: abuse of power (Article 201 of the Criminal Code), commercial bribery (Article 204), abuse of authority (Article 285), illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity (Article 289), receiving bribes and taking bribes (Articles 290 and 291, respectively).

A total of 21,842 such crimes were registered in 2007, of which 6,185 made it to court. Of those that went to court, 675 people were sent to prison, 3,650 received suspended sentences, and 1,744 were fined.

Last year, the figures were largely unchanged, with 23,518 corruption crimes registered, or 7.6 percent more than 2007. Of those, 6,691 went to trial, 903 people were imprisoned, 3,694 received suspended sentences, and 1,926 were fined.

It turns out that on average, only one in 25 of the total cases resulted in someone spending time behind bars. Looking at the numbers for those cases that actually went to trial, one in eight of those accused went to prison.

In 2007, verdicts of a suspended sentence or a fine were handed down to 86.9 percent of the accused, while in 2009, the figure was 85.2 percent, according to the authors of the research. Furthermore, the maximum possible sentence of three to five years incarceration for abuse of power was not used at all in the last two years; the maximum punishment for bribe taking — from five to eight years in prison — was only used four times in 2009.

The research suggests that there have been no real gains in the battle against corruption.

"The possible consequences are not a serious deterrent," the researchers wrote in the report.

Positive trends are noticeable only in the area of minor corruption, said Viktor Astanin, the research institute's deputy head. There was a 10 percent increase in those crimes being registered last year, he said.

The Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court declined to comment.

The materials required further study, an Interior Ministry spokesperson said.

"We have to understand to what extent the statistics used in the study were correctly interpreted," said Pavel Odintsov, press secretary of the Supreme Court.

An official close to the presidential administration said this was the first time such research had been conducted.

Under its obligations to the Council of Europe's anti-corruption committee, Russia is supposed to create a continuous monitoring system for corruption statistics, the official added.

Current statistics do not take into consideration a number of criteria, so a clear picture of the situation is impossible to obtain, and adequate responses are not being made, he conceded.

A poll taken of 1,000 employees of the Interior Ministry, Prosecutor General's Office, Investigative Committee, Justice Ministry and other government officials in 80 regions revealed that only 27.3 percent trusted information about corruption that they receive from law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. They say the statistical data is "tweaked and falsified."

The battle against corruption in a systematically corrupt country is a political question, and not one for law enforcement or the courts, said Yelena Panfilova, head of Transparency International in Russia. It's pointless to blame statistics — they only give an indication of the effectiveness of law enforcement and the courts, not corruption itself, she said.

Source :
The Moscow Times

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Training of Trainers [TOT]



Berita Harian Online | Pindaan AUKU: Mahasiswa perlu lebih bertanggungjawab

Berita Harian Online | Pindaan AUKU: Mahasiswa perlu lebih bertanggungjawab


GEORGETOWN: Demi kepentingan negara, golongan mahasiswa hendaklah lebih bertanggungjawab dan tidak menyalahgunakan kebebasan berpolitik seperti yang dibenarkan dalam Rang Undang-undang Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (Pindaan) 2012 (AUKU) untuk tujuan politik yang tidak sihat, kata Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri berkata, pindaan AUKU itu menunjukkan bahawa kerajaan tidak menyekat hak dan kebebasan mahasiswa untuk berpolitik sama ada di dalam kampus atau dengan mana-mana parti politik.
"Ini ialah soal kebertanggungjawaban golongan muda kepada negara, hak keadilan tidak disekat oleh kerajaan, AUKU memberi ruang kepada demokrasi dan kebebasan, harap mahasiswa dapat menggunakan kebebasan ini untuk pembangunan negara dan bukan sekadar mainan politik," katanya.
Muhyiddin berkata demikian ketika menjawab pertanyaan mengenai kesan terhadap pindaan AUKU dalam pertemuan ringkasnya dengan penuntut Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) selepas perhimpunan perdana anggota perkhidmatan awam dan belia Pulau Pinang dan dialog di Dewan Tunku Canselor, USM di sini hari ini.

Kira-kira 6,000 orang menghadiri perhimpunan itu, terdiri daripada 4,000 penjawat awam dan bakinya merupakan golongan belia.

Pada 19 April lalu, Dewan Rakyat meluluskan Rang Undang-Undang Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (Pindaan) 2012, yang membenarkan penuntut universiti terbabit dalam politik dan memegang jawatan dalam persatuan serta pertubuhan di luar kampus, sebahagian transformasi politik negara yang dilakukan kerajaan.

Muhyiddin, yang juga Menteri Pelajaran, percaya bahawa mahasiswa sekarang lebih matang dalam membuat keputusan dan sekiranya terdapat sebarang ketidakpuasan hati mereka boleh menyalurkan aduan kepada mana-mana pihak untuk tindakan selanjutnya.
"Dengan asas bantuan dan dasar yang kerajaan laksanakan, kita percaya bahawa mahasiswa sekarang lebih matang. Selain itu, kerajaan juga tidak boleh sekat kemajuan teknologi yang semakin berkembang," katanya.

Dalam sesi dialog itu, Muhyiddin memberi jaminan bahawa kemudahan pinjaman Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) yang disediakan bagi pelajar di Institut Pengajian Tinggi (IPT) tetap diteruskan selagi ada keperluan.

Beliau berkata, isu pemansuhan PTPTN itu tidak seharusnya wujud dan diperbesarkan kerana kemudahan pinjaman itu bertujuan membantu pelajar yang kurang berkemampuan daripada segi kewangan tetapi ingin melanjutkan pengajian ke peringkat lebih tinggi.

"PTPTN sudah jadi isu besar, yang sepatutnya tidak jadi isu dan tidak dipolitikkan. Bila dipolitikkan ia jadi besar dan di luar jangkauan, kerajaan sudah sediakan RM43 bilion pinjaman yang diberikan secara mudah kepada pelajar.

"Tabung begini amat diperlukan bagi meraka yang tidak mendapat kemudahan biasiswa untuk melanjutkan pengajian. Jika dimansuhkan ia ibarat menafikan hak orang lain yang ingin belajar," katanya.

Muhyiddin turut menyelar sikap pemimpin parti pakatan pembangkang yang menggunakan isu PTPTN semata-mata untuk meraih sokongan rakyat demi kepentingan diri sendiri.

"Kalau sudah tidak ada tabung, nak pinjam apa... jadi jangan terpengaruh dengan pihak yang cuba meraih sokongan untuk pilihan raya. Pelajar IPT semua waras dan boleh berfikir... tidak mungkin mereka buat perkara yang negatif.

"Dasar untuk sediakan tabung ini akan diteruskan selagi ada keperluan, buat apa kita nak layan nafsu buas dan rakus sesetengah pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat," katanya. - BERNAMA

Sumber : Berita Harian 2012/04/26

Berita Harian Online | Timbalan Pengarah SKMM nafi tuduhan rasuah

Berita Harian Online | Timbalan Pengarah SKMM nafi tuduhan rasuah


SHAH ALAM: Timbalan Pengarah di Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) mengaku tidak bersalah di Mahkamah Sesyen di sini, semalam, terhadap dua tuduhan rasuah yang turut membabitkan isterinya dan seorang individu lain, bulan lalu.

Bagi pertuduhan pertama, Timbalan Pengarah Bahagian Kandungan dan Penguat Kuasa di SKMM, Noor Mohamed Khan Mohamed Mastan, didakwa mengikut Seksyen 16 (a)(A), Akta Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (ASPRM) kerana bersubahat dengan isterinya, Suraya Hani Ahmad Zaki, 32, dan Noorshidin Mohd Noor, 40 menerima rasuah RM250,000 daripada Ketua Pegawai Operasi Siaga Informatics Sdn Bhd (SISB), Mohd Shukri Othman, sebagai upah bagi mereka yang kononnya membantu syarikat itu memperoleh surat tawaran bagi tender membina makmal forensik digital SKMM.
Suraya Hani adalah pengurus akaun sebuah syarikat dan Noorshidin pula pengarah urusan sebuah syarikat.
Pertuduhan kedua, Noor Mohamed Khan tidak mengaku bersalah atas pertuduhan pilihan mengikut Seksyen 420 Kanun Keseksaan iaitu bersubahat dengan Suraya Hani dan Noorshidin yang cuba menipu Mohd Shukri bahawa mereka membantu SISB memperoleh surat tawaran tender berkenaan, sedangkan ia tidak benar, hingga mendorong Mohd Shukri memberi wang tunai RM250,000.

Kedua-dua kesalahan itu dilakukan di pejabat SISB di Subang Jaya, kira-kira jam 10.25 pagi pada 14 Mac 2012.

Hakim Asmadi Hussin kemudian membenarkan jaminan RM10,000 dengan seorang penjamin dan menetapkan 23 April ini sebagai tarikh sebutan semula kes.

Sementara itu, di Mahkamah Sesyen berasingan, Suraya Hani dan Noorshidin mengaku tidak bersalah terhadap satu pertuduhan menerima rasuah bernilai RM250,000 daripada Mohd Shukri sebagai upah bagi mereka yang kononnya membantu syarikat itu memperoleh surat tawaran bagi tender membina makmal forensik digital SKMM.
Mereka juga mengaku tidak bersalah terhadap satu pertuduhan pilihan iaitu cuba menipu Mohd Shukri bahawa mereka membantu syarikat mangsa memperoleh surat tawaran bagi pembinaan makmal forensik digital SKMM hingga menyebabkan mangsa mengeluarkan wang RM250,000 itu.

Hakim M Bakri Abd Majid kemudian menetapkan setiap tertuduh membayar jaminan RM15,000 dengan seorang penjamin, manakala kes itu akan disebut semula pada 27 April ini.

Sumber : Berita Harian 2012/04/10