THE government has agreed to set up the National Financial Crime Centre (NFCC) in an effort to tackle money-laundering.

The National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) director-general Abu Kassim Mohamed said the matter was decided at a recent cabinet committee meeting on anti-corruption.

He said the government seriously viewed the illegal outflow of cash from the country, estimated to reach billions of ringgit each year.

“This issue needs to be addressed seriously and the government wants the initiative involving various agencies to be implemented immediately.

“We hope the NFCC will operate as soon as possible after the necessary laws have been enacted,” he said during a press conference held in conjunction with the Report on the Year End Achievement in the War Against Corruption in Malaysia for the months of June-December 2018 here today.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull was also present. 

Abu Kassim said the government had agreed to create a special team led by a senior government official to plan the NFCC.

Expecting the centre to be operational by the middle of next year, he said its establishment involved the coordination of the MACC, Customs Department, Immigration Department and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and the first meeting was held today.

Meanwhile, Shukri said the MACC would propose the use of a new law on beneficial ownership to curb the problem of major contractors not implementing the projects themselves.

Based on past cases, many of the projects obtained by the main contractors are not carried out by themselves, but are given to sub-contractors, and sub-contractors, in turn, hand them over to another party, creating several layers of project implementers.

“This has resulted in the poor quality of projects which eventually affects many parties, especially buyers or recipients,” he said, adding that for a start, the new law would only focus on government projects. – Bernama, December 21, 2018.