KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Malaysian graftbusters are planning the bring the hammer down on Cabinet ministers whose families are awarded government projects by amending a loophole in anti-corruption laws, PKR revealed today.

In a meeting with 10 opposition lawmakers today, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) also requested PKR’s support in its fight against corruption in Putrajaya.

”MACC wanted an amendment to Section 23 to make sure when ministers and their family members are getting government projects they can be prosecuted,” PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar told reporters outside the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Academy here.

Izzah was referring to a section in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act prohibiting government servants from awarding projects or tenders to family members.

Section 23 currently has a loophole where a public servant could leave a meeting after declaring to have a conflict of interest, or not be present at all when decision is made.

But this does not prohibit the project from being awarded to the public servant’s relatives.

Fellow vice-president Fuziah Salleh also divulged that among cases discussed by the two parties included those involving Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, and adviser to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

PKR lawmakers however expressed their concern over the Attorney-General, who they claim is powerless in handling graft cases.

“If you want us to support this amendment ... We also want it to be done in tandem with empowering the MACC so they can prosecute accordingly,” stressed Izzah.

“It is a body without fangs, that does not have the power to prosecute ... It goes back to the A-G’s chamber,” added Fuziah.

The meeting today follows Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) calls last week for a corruption investigation on Putrajaya’s advertising campaign ahead of Election 2013 that exceeded half a billion ringgit.

The Malay Mail Online reported earlier today that the federal government had spent RM531 million on advertisements in the first half of 2013, a 160 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to international media-buying agency Vizeum Media.

In its July report, Vizeum Media noted that the Prime Minister’s Department took up the lion’s share of Putrajaya’s advertising expenditure by spending RM264 million for the first six months of the year, five times more than it did in 2012.

Last month, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed has hinted the possibility of legislating a ban on government officials abusing family ties to bid for lucrative projects.

He explained that many people now exploit what is seen as a legal loophole, successfully avoiding prosecution by virtue of the technicality.

“In the early days, in the 1970s, a lot of people do not know about the rules and these regulations. A lot of people make decisions and they don’t declare, that’s why early days we charged a lot of people,” Abu Kassim said.

“But today, a lot of them know the tricks, know the procedure, so every time when they make a decision, they will declare their interest and go out,” he added.

Three months ago, in May, the MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) proposed that all government administrators and their family members at both federal and state levels be barred from bidding for government projects.

The CCPP, which is one of the MACC’s five oversight advisory bodies, made the suggestion after noting that the call to combat corruption had been among the key issues raised during the 13th general election on May 5.

Panel chairman Datuk Johan Jaaffar said the CCPP was of the view that to allay public perception on cronyism in the government, all Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, mentris besar, chief ministers, state executive councillors and their immediate family members should be included in the move.