KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — The Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC) is aiming at drafting the country’s first law on political funding within a year, a news report said.

Although Putrajaya has given it until the end of 2020 to legislate the law, its director-general Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamad told MalaysiaKini that they hoped to complete the bill within six months to a year, depending on how fast they can complete their engagement with all stakeholders

"NACP has given us two years but we hope to get it done sooner,” he said, adding that the law was one of its 22 focus areas under the National Anti-Corruption Plan’s 115 initiatives.

Abu Kassim pointed out that the underlying principle in the law was transparency.

"The principle we use is transparency, that is the most important,” he was quoted saying.

"If a politician receives money it must go into an account, not his or her own pocket. We do not want political funding used as a means for anyone to get his or her hands on as many projects as possible or being a proxy for others.

"You have to declare what you get, where you use the money, where you got it from and who gave it to you.

"If all these are made known, it can lower the chance of abuse of the system,” added the former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner.