KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Faced with the problem of setting up a body to monitor political funds because of lack of cooperation from political parties, the National Key Result Area (NKRA) Against Corruption is now planning to study the need for creating an act for the purpose.

The body is of the opinion legal provision was needed to make it mandatory for political parties to declare their sources of political funds to create transparency.

National Key Result Area (NKRA) Against Corruption director Datuk Hisham Nordin said it was looking at the need to create a new act or proposing amendments to existing ones at several government agencies involved in supervising political parties.

 “We are also scrutinising several other acts such as the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, Election Commission Act, Registrar of Societies and Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act to look at needs to propose amendments,” he told Bernama here.

Hisham said whether it was a new act or amendments to existing ones, NKRA Against Corruption was of the opinion that political funds could only be monitored effectively when the need to report sources of political funds was mandatory to all political parties.

Hisham said political parties might not be prepared to reveal their respective political fund contributors currently to protect the credibility of certain leaders in the party concerned.

 “I am of the view that monitoring political funds is crucial to shut of all opportunities and openings for corruptions. As such, every political fund channelled must be audited and recorded to show the transparency of the party,” he said.

In February 2012, through the Government Transformation Plan (GTP), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced a new initiative to eradicate corruption to control political financings and investigate abuse of funds under the National Key Result Area (NKRA) Against Corruption.

Najib said political funding at federal or state levels must be channelled directly to the accounts of the parties to enhance their transparency and boost confidence of the people in the political organisations.

On the setting up of a monitoring body for political funds, Hisham said it was not something new as it had been implemented abroad such as in the United States and France.

Based on the report of the study by the national level Corruption Barometre, which was implemented by the non-governmental organisation Transparency National Malaysia last month, political parties were seen as the most corrupt institutions globally.

The random survey found that out of 2,000 Malaysians interviewed, 45 per cent saw political parties as being the most corrupted followed by the police (42 per cent).

Last year, 78 per cent of Malaysians believed the police were the most corrupted in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Election Commission chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed recently said EC statistics recorded 509 people who were detained for corruptions and misappropriations in 2013 compared with 701 previously.

Members of the public comprised the highest number arrested (261) followed by civil servants (176), private sector (71) and local authority (one). — Bernama