KUALA LUMPUR: Ninety-seven per cent of Perikatan Nasional (PN) Cabinet members have declared their assets thus far, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin disclosed.
He said they all were given three months to do so right after the Cabinet held its first meeting on March 10.
“I think the time given was sufficient. Of the total Cabinet members, 97 per cent of them had submitted (their statutory declaration of assets), leaving only five yet to do so, whose names I don’t have to mention…I will give extra attention to this and have it completed immediately.
“The same goes for all deputy ministers and Members of Parliament aligned to PN,” he said in reply to Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) during Minister’s Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting here yesterday.
Teo had wanted to know the development of the asset declaration among the Cabinet members after it was announced as part of PN government’s commitment by Muhyiddin on March 11.
Muhyiddin, who is Pagoh MP, also congratulated all Pakatan Harapan MPs for having submitted their declaration of assets.
Meanwhile, replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun (Bersatu-Beaufort) who wanted to know the latest development of the formulation of the political funding bill, Muhyiddin said the government still awaiting the report related to the matter from the Parliament Special Select Committee (PSC) for Consideration of Bills.
He said the government had taken note of the need to have the bill and it had been generally stated in the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023, in addition to the policy on political contributions within the legal framework which had been submitted to the PSC on Nov 7 last year.
“The PSC has been asked to prepare a report on political contributions long before the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the 14th Parliament, but until today, the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) as the political funding bill coordinator has yet to receive any report from the PSC.
“Taking into consideration the current situation, the PSC will continue preparing the report and, once completed, will submit it to the government,” he said.
On Azizah’s original question about the government’s commitment to tackling corruption and integrity issues and the latest development of the NACP initiatives, Muhyiddin said 28 initiatives under the six strategies had been implemented as of May this year.
This, he said includes 13 initiatives under Political Governance, Public Sector Administration (three), Public Procurement (four), Legislation (one), Law Enforcement (five) and Corporate Governance (two).
To ensure that the government’s noble aspirations could be implemented in an orderly and effective manner, the prime minister said the role of GIACC as the Secretariat of the Cabinet Special Committee on Anti-Corruption will be retained, while the Anti-Corruption Committee will continue to ensure that policies would not compromise on corruption.
“All approaches and efforts towards combating corruption and abuse of power will be given emphasis by the PN government through the agreed policies as stated in the NACP 2019-2023 initiatives,” he added. – Bernama
