FEBRUARY 26 — With current development involving financial crimes in Malaysia, I believe that by adopting a single and comprehensive legislation similar to UK Fraud Act 2006 will empower the investigators and prosecutors to execute their duties without any unwarranted pressure. This is vital because the independency of these agencies without hostile environment will allow them to investigate matters which are very much dear to the general public of Malaysia. Further, a successful prosecution will be deterrence for high profile fraudsters do not to commit such act for the benefit of the country’s economy.

The perception of the public on these agencies especially on MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) as a body which only prey on the small fishes rather the big ones further deteriorates its reputation even though the Commission in the past played a significant role in reducing bribery and corruption.. As propagated by some quarters from the Malaysian public, this Commission needs to have the prosecution powers to prosecute such offenders in court without any bureaucratic obstacles. I fully support  this notion as recent incidents indicate that such is power needed to stop the propagators from further damaging the this beloved nation.

Fraud, bribery and corruption are signs of a serious epidemic, which a country needs to find ways to reduce or eliminate fully. Therefore, the UK took a bold step by stroked away the eight deception based offences in the 1968 and 1978 Theft Acts to create simple, yet comprehensive fraud legislation. The Government Consultation paper on Fraud Law Reform in 2004 had identified the overlap between the deception offences between the Theft Acts; and the need to make the law clearer and more accessible for juries.

According to the UK Home Office, the purpose of the Act is “to clarify the law, and provide law enforcers and prosecutors with a modern and flexible law of fraud.” The new legislation aims to provide a package of offences which can keep stride with the problems posed by advances in technology, modern methods of property transfer and commercial transactions. Further, this legislation only has 16 sections and is worded in a way that its can be easily understood. It’s is also effortlessly applicable for the investigators and prosecutors to use the said Act.

This Act creates a general offence of fraud which can be committed in three ways i.e. fraud by false representation, fraud by falling to disclose information and fraud by abuse of position. In a nutshell, this Act emphases on dishonesty and method of committing fraud. In my opinion, this direction will help the investigators and prosecutors to execute their duties meritoriously.

By reducing rigidity or over meticulous requirement in preparing for cases involving financial crimes will give a great escape route for said criminals. Under this Act the standard of proof will on the defendant to prove to the Court that he did not acted dishonestly. By shifting the burden of proof from prosecutors to defendants, this Act allows the victims to be protected and there is a legal duty for defendants to disclose incriminating evidence against them. In addition, if anyone who has committed any of these forms of offences which are known as conduct offences, the maximum punishment will be 10 years imprisonment.Therefore, by enacting a new legislation which is similar to this Act, the said agencies will have an operational tool to prosecute the criminals successfully.

In a nutshell, even though this Act is narrowly defines fraud but its application will cover the wider areas like falsification, forgery, counterfeiting, money laundering, false accounting and corruption. The current legislation on financial crimes in Malaysia especially on fraud and corruption which are too much overlap, technicality and over-partcularised does not help the relevant agencies to prosecute against criminals.

The presumption of general public on these agencies is always negative. But one needs to remember, they are working under a hostile environment. Therefore, these agencies especially MACC needs to be independent and to have prosecution powers together with legislation to prosecute the financial criminals successfully in the Court.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.