PUTRAJAYA, Aug 27 — The National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC) and Cybersecurity Malaysia (CSM) have agreed to form an initiative to support an agenda to fight financial crime and leakage, especially from the cybersecurity aspect.

The matter was stated in a Memorandum of Cooperation between NFCC and CSM signed by NFCC director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali and CSM chief executive officer Datuk Amirudin Abdul Wahab virtually today.

Mustafar and Amirudin said in a joint statement that the agreement signed is a joint commitment to curb financial crime by mobilising knowledge, expertise and shared experiences of both parties.

They added that discussions for the cooperation between the NFCC and CSM were ongoing since 2020.

“The understanding to fight financial crime and leakages was the main agenda of this partnership. Cooperation in the aspects of cybersecurity and data analytics are among the main fields of focus for both agencies,” the joint statement read.

The signing ceremony was officiated by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali and attended by chairman of NFCC board of advisors, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed and chairman of the CSM’s board of directors, Gen ® Tan Sri Mohd Azumi Mohamed.

Mohd Zuki said in his speech that cooperation between NFCC And CSM was part of the whole of government or whole of nation approach to fight financial crime.

“This approach is very much needed for the country to implement grand agendas, including facing the growing threat of financial crime.

“That is why the integrated cooperation of various government entities, especially in the optimum use of big data, in addition to ensuring the safety and protection of data is vital and critical to ensure that the process of gathering, managing and analysing of data can be conducted efficiently and in an automated manner,” Mohd Zuki said.

He added that crime using technology showed a worrying trend and a study conducted by the Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT) in 2020 showed frauds like phishing and illegal investment schemes were on the rise.

According to Mohd Zuki, the Royal Malaysian Police also identified 80,000 mule accounts that were used by online fraud syndicates throughout 2019 and 2020.

From January till July 2020, 672 police reports were lodged about investment fraud syndicates with a loss estimated to be nearly RM100 million, of which RM52 million were linked to online investments, he added.

“Considering the seriousness of the matter, Malaysia cannot allow any leakage due to the acts of undesirable irresponsible parties,” he said. — Bernama