KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — At least 500 reports of alleged misconduct from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to several government agencies involving the latter’s personnel were left unaddressed and ignored, according to MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

According to an interview with the New Straits Times (NST) published today, he said that it was standard practice to notify the heads of departments (HODs) of possible wrongdoing by their subordinates.

"Many of them just ignore it and we sent letters to remind them,” he was quoted as saying, referring to MACC’s reports.

"They have to take action because it is a circular by the chief secretary, not my circular. We just follow the order.”

The NST report said that MACC statistics showed that 553 misconduct reports had been left unaddressed, some of which were submitted 12 years ago.

It is understood that the bulk of the misconduct reports, totalling 125, are related to the police, followed by the Road Transport Department.

The remainder involve the courts, the Prime Minister’s Office, religious authorities, hospitals and health departments, as well as universities.

However, Azam said that it was understandable that the police should receive a significant proportion of reports, as they have the most enforcement personnel.

"Our investigation will first focus on corruption. If we discover elements of misconduct, it is our duty to report it to HODs. The HODs will then report back to us, confirming that they received the report,” he said.

He added that a committee comprising selected HODs would be established to handle such cases.

"It is this committee that will look into our report. They will decide whether our report has any merit. If not, they can just close the case because it is not a criminal matter.

"Criminal cases will go to court, but cases of misconduct will be reviewed by a committee,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the Federal Constitution stipulates that the HODs are authorised to decide the appropriate course of action against their subordinates after completing an investigation of misconduct.

He added that the HODs have received more than 100,000 reports since the inception of the anti-corruption agency in 1967.