SHAH ALAM, March 9 (Bernama) — The Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia (SKM) is drawing up an anti-corruption plan to eradicate abuse of power among cooperative members in the country.
SKM executive vice president (Operations and Regulatory) Siti Azlin Ahmad Dauta said the commission would be selecting a cluster of 100 top co-operatives in the country as pioneers and as the benchmark for the plan.
She said the initiative was a follow-up to existing cases that involved offences under Section 45 of the Co-operative Societies Act 1993.
“Co-operatives are exposed to many risks (of corruption) especially when it involves development activities or large-scale projects, so we do not want governance to be affected because it would also hamper their activities.
“Therefore, the anti-corruption plan is a preventive move towards co-operatives being corruption-free and this is why we want to encourage each co-operative to develop its own anti-corruption plan,” she said.
Siti Azlin told reporters this after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia Sahabat Co-operative (Koop Sahabat) and Marriot International and Az Zaharah Islamic Hospital here today.
She further said SKM will be working together with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity to develop the initiative.
Meanwhile, commenting on today’s programme, Siti Azlin said the MoU involved a proposal to develop a 300-room resort hotel in Pantai Chenang, Langkawi and an Ambulatory Care Centre in Kuantan.
“It involves two projects with an overall gross development value totalling RM250 million which is expected to commence in 2024 (hotel) and 2026 (health centre). The project is also expected to boost property development and construction activities in line with the strategic plans of the co-operative.
“Koop Sahabat is confident that its property development plans will not only focus on housing only but also on ‘Built to Suit’ development which (we are confident) will be able to help the government provide basic necessities like hospitals, education centres and so forth,” she added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency