WHAT is Putrajaya’s policy on civil servants receiving and giving gifts, after Najib Razak’s lawyers said three luxury watches were seized by police in 2018 at his residence, asked Kepong lawmaker Lim Lip Eng.

“The luxury watches given are very expensive, starting from around RM500,000 up to almost RM2 million.”

“Looking at the value of the gifts given, it is certain that the gifts were given for certain reasons,” said Lim Lip Eng in a statement.

Earlier this week, Najib’s lawyer submitted that three of the seven Richard Mille watches that were seized by police in the Pavilion condo raid in May 2018 were worth a total of RM4.514 million.

Two of the watches, one costing RM1.58 million and the other RM500,400, were bought by Yeoh Seok Ping of YTL fame.

Lim said this kind of gift-giving culture does not augur well for integrity.

“The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is committed to ensuring that all types of corruption in any form are fought as soon as possible.”

“Despite only governing the government for 22 months, the PH cabinet initiated a policy of not accepting any type of gift worth more than RM500 from anyone.”

“This policy was created to ensure that civil servants, including ministers, do not indulge in corrupt activities,” he said.

According to him, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) reported that it was drafting amendments regarding the issue of receiving and giving gifts to civil servants. 

“But is the cabinet of ministers led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri also subject to this policy?,” he questioned.

He urged that important regulations needed to be announced to the public since this is a public interest issue.

He said the prime minister needs to have a clear plan to deal with ongoing corruption as it is happening rampantly. – September 30, 2022.