HHULU LANGAT, May 24 ― The Attorney-General has received proposed changes to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) Act that will grant the watchdog more authority, said Datuk Yaacob Md Sam.

The EAIC chairman said among the reforms sought were increases to penalties against officials who do not cooperate with the EAIC and to make it mandatory for all government agencies to report their disciplinary proceedings to the commission.

“Through a letter dated May 18, 2016 by the Prime Minister’s Department’s legal advisors, the draft bill has been referred now to the Attorney-General’s Chambers before it is brought to the government and Parliament in its upcoming October 2016 session,” he said in his opening speech of a dialogue session between the commission and enforcement agencies of the peninsula’s central zone.

He said present provisions do not compel agencies to implement nor report back to the commission on whether they had implemented the recommendations given by the EAIC.

“We feel it would be more effective for the EAIC to be given that power to compel for the feedback of the disciplinary bodies,” he said later.

Yaacob earlier this month expressed concerns that agencies were sometimes giving lenient punishments that “differ too far from the Commission’s recommendation”.

He announced in November the commission’s intention to seek amendments to the Act, which also aims to place more agencies under the EAIC’s purview, including the Social Welfare Department, Securities Commission of Malaysia, Companies Commission of Malaysia as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

According to the EAIC statistics until May 20, 66 recommendations for various disciplinary actions on government officers have been made by the EAIC after going through 50 investigation papers since 2012.

It found there were five cases where no further action was taken by the respective disciplinary authorities, nine where caution letters were issued, eight where warnings were issued, two where a day’s pay was docked, and one where a fine of RM150 was imposed.

As for the other 41 cases out of the 66 recommendations, the disciplinary authorities are still in the process of taking action.