PARLIAMENT passed the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NAFCC) bill with a simple voice vote today despite concerns about the appointment of its advisory board.

MPs from both sides of the House – such as Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH), Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Ledang-PH), Shahidan Kassim (Arau-BN) and Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) – expressed their concerns that power would be over concentrated in the hands of the prime minister.

During the debate, Syed Ibrahim suggested that the advisory board members should be vetted by Parliament’s Major Public Appointments Committee before they are presented to the King.

“It would be better if Section 5 (3) of the NAFCC bill be changed to Parliament instead of the prime minister to avoid conflict of interests,” said Shahidan during the debate.

According to the section, the appointment of the Advisory Board chairman, director general and five other members will made on the advice of the prime minister to the King.

However, the protests did not carry enough weight because, when the bill was put to a vote there were fewer than 20 opposition MPs left in the House.

At 5.08pm, Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof announced that the second reading had passed without any amendments.

Earlier, during the tabling of the bill for second reading, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Liew Vui Keong told Parliament that the bill was aimed at curbing activities such as tax evasion, smuggling, abuse of subsidies and abuse of tax-free zones.

“Financial crimes have become more complicated in recent years, where money is hidden in layers or through proxies.

“Illicit money has been channelled systematically out of the country in all sorts of ways and a centre to co-ordinate the investigations into financial crimes is necessary,” said Liew. – October 10, 2019.