DEFENCE Minister Mohamad Sabu said that he had no problems declaring his assets after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement that none of Pakatan Harapan’s elected representatives had declared their wealth.

“I previously declared my assets to Invoke Malaysia.

“I can do it anytime,” he said, after the Defence Ministry’s Hari Raya open house at Jalan Padang Tembak today.

He was commenting on the Pakatan Harapan chairman’s statement today that none of the MPs from PH had responded to his call to declare their assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Dr Mahathir said this at a press conference after a briefing on governance, integrity and corruption with government staff and ministers at MACC.

Mohamad said that all ministers were now public servants.

“Previously, the former prime minister (Najib Razak) and his deputy (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) were excluded. This time, everyone is a public servant, even Dr Mahathir and his deputy (Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail). No one is excluded. If not, there will be abuse of power,” he said.

Mohamad, who sits on the anti-corruption committee chaired by Dr Mahathir, said that today’s briefing at MACC covered the do’s and don’ts involving bribes.

“The briefing was given to all the ministers and MPs. This time, (enforcement on) bribery is being tightened to curb it as much as possible.

“There are a lot of things we can’t do, such as receive gifts other than in the form of food and non-food items that do not exceed RM500.

“Otherwise, we have to report it to MACC. We hope that we will be able to reduce bribes with this committee.”

Mohamad said that it did not matter who they were, and that they must declare their assets to MACC if they hold government posts.

Last month, Dr Mahathir instructed ministers and their deputies to declare their assets to him.

He said he would pass the information on to the relevant agencies.

Selangor was among the first states to introduce asset declarations to the public in 2009, while Penang set the rule in place when the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat captured the state. – July 10, 2018.