Water corruption, an integrity crisis is disruptive, debilitating, damaging and hurting us

Water Corruption | SSWM http://www.sswm.info/content/water-corruption

The Star Says: A crisis of integrity and a lesson to be learnt

THE country’s gaze is fixed on the alleged corruption in the Sabah Water Department, following the arrest of two of its senior officers.

How can it not be when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) displayed at a press conference on Wednesday the cash, cars and luxury goods found in the duo’s homes and offices?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much power there is in photographs of items worth tens of millions of ringgit.

And the numbers that the case has yielded so far are dizzying.

The MACC has seized about RM57mil in cash, nine cars (estimated value is RM3mil), 19.3kg of gold jewellery (RM3.6mil), almost 100 handbags (RM500,000) and 127 land title deeds.

The commission has also frozen bank accounts with balances totalling RM60mil.

It is certain that more assets will be uncovered as the probe deepens and widens.

There are additional figures to digest.

The MACC has discovered that the department had given contracts to 38 companies owned by family members and proxies of the two senior officers.

These contracts were awarded for projects funded by the Federal Government. In total, RM3.3bil was set aside for the projects.

The Star reported yesterday that 60 sen out of every ringgit thus allocated was pocketed by many individuals.

We marvel at the size of the MACC’s haul and we are outraged by the extent of the apparent theft of government funds, but we should also take note of another set of numbers.

According to 2015 statistics from the National Water Services Commission, which is better known as SPAN, 87.9% of Sabah’s population has treated water supply.

Only Kelantan has a lower water coverage (64%), although SPAN explained that many households in Kelantan relied on alternative water sources.

At the national level, 95.5% of the population has water coverage.

Sabah did just as poorly in the handling of non-revenue water (NRW), which is the difference between the water that comes out of the treatment plants and the water for which consumers are billed.

The gap is due to theft, leakage, burst pipes, faulty meters and maintenance works.

Last year, Malaysia’s NRW rate was 35.5%. Sabah’s rate was 55.1%, which again placed the state as second from the bottom.

Perlis was slightly worse, with 56.3%.

Yes, Sabah is large, and its rural communities are dispersed. But the same can be said about Sarawak, which has performed better in these areas of water supply management.

Whichever way you look at it, Sabah cannot claim to have a sparkling record in providing water to the people and in taking care of the water infrastructure. And now we can think of many million reasons why this is so.

The MACC investigations probably have some way to go, and if it leads to people being charged in court, a lot more will have to happen before the Sabah Water Department case can be put to rest.

Nevertheless, this is also a time for a compelling case study on how corruption directly hurts us.

Here is a great example of why we should all fight corruption. Underestimate its impact, and we may one day be left high and dry. Let us not waste this learning opportunity.

We have lately been fretting about being hit by a water crisis, but we should also understand that an integrity crisis is just as disruptive, debilitating and damaging. The Star Says

Related posts:

Water fiasco: RM114 million seized from Sabah water officials 

https://youtu.be/01stOYgM9x0 It was a record haul by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission – RM114mil seized from two top officer...


No water but officials flush with funds: abuse of power, nepotism, cronyism, bribery and money laundering

Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah - http://malaysianlogo.blogspot.my/2014/06/jabatan-air-negeri-sabah-sabah.html KOTA KINABALU: Everywhere in Sab...

Water theft: 60% of RM3.3bil project allocation stolen by senior officers

 Jabatan Air Negeri - Customer Service How the millions were stolen? 1. Contracts broken down to small packages of RM100,000 ea...

PBA in a fix over Penang water cut; billion litrea Water waste via leaky pipes 
 Jabatan Air Negeri - Customer Service How the millions were stolen? 1. Contracts broken down to small packages of RM100,000 ea...

Malaysia's jobless rate on the rise as economic expansion slows

Unemployment in Malaysia is rising, the latest data released by the Statistics Department show.

The obvious correlation to the rise in the jobless rate, which in Malaysia is counted as those who are unemployed but remain actively looking for a job, is the slower pace of economic growth.

The economy, up until the second quarter ended June 30, has slowed for five quarters in a row with weak exports the main drag on growth.

Although private consumption and investments supported the economy in the second quarter, economists are not very confident that this will drive growth in the coming quarters without supportive government policies and improvement in overseas consumer demand.

This will have implications for jobs and the economy.

There could be reason for short-term cheer with data exceeding expectations, as August trade data released yesterday show but there are indications that downside risks remain.

Positive sentiments as reflected in the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s (Mier) business conditions index, which is now above the 100-point threshold, indicating that businesses’ confidence levels are up, can just as easily dissipate.

Consumers do not share the same sentiments as businesses, as the Mier’s consumer sentiments index show.

Although rising steadily since the beginning of the year, the index is still below the 100-point threshold, largely reflecting benign inflation and the fading impact of the goods and services tax implemented last year.

Standard Chartered plc Asean economic research head Edward Lee says private consumption growth momentum will not be sustainable because of the weak labour-market conditions.

Besides the higher unemployment rate, weak wage- and job-growth together with the slowdown in the property market and financial-market volatility to also affect spending sentiment.

Lee, who expects the economy to grow 3.8% this year compared to the official estimates of 4% to 4.5%, adds that the weakening labour market will be a drag on economic growth.

“Private consumption will be key to achieving this target, and we think it may come in weaker than the central bank expects due to weaker labour-market conditions.

“We will therefore monitor consumption metrics closely over the next few months,” he says.

Cautious consumer sentiment largely reflects the state of the job market and high household debt.

Different views: Consumers do not share the same sentiments as businesses, as Mier’s consumer sentiments index shows.

Data from Bank Negara and the Nikkei Malaysia manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) compiled by IHS Markit Ltd paint a bleaker picture.

While the September Nikkei Malaysia manufacturing PMI, which was released at the end of last month saw an improvement from August, it is still below the 50-point threshold, indicating that the manufacturing sector is still contracting.

But what is interesting is the press statement following the release of the August data, in which IHS Markit economist Amy Brownbill says the Malaysian manufacturing sector saw a sharper deterioration in operating conditions underpinned by quicker declines in output, new orders and employment with the rate of job shedding the fastest in over three years.

The August PMI report noted that firms cut back on payroll numbers as part of efforts to make cost savings.

Bank Negara report

A Bank Negara report also showed that labour market conditions have become challenging, with the recent high unemployment rates coinciding with lower job vacancies available per active job seekers.

AllianceDBS Research chief economist Manokaran Mottain said in a report released last week that while the manufacturing sector was shedding jobs, selected services subsectors has added headcount and could be cushioning job losses in the manufacturing sector.

More than half of the workforce are employed in the services sector with the manufacturing sector employing about 16%.

Further evidence of the deteriorating conditions in the job market comes from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

Manokaran says the monthly contribution value growth rate from the EPF’s members have moderated, signalling weak wage growth in recent years.

This also mirrors the slowdown in the economy over the past few quarters as businesses will not give higher increments or pay out bonuses.

Manokaran says based on trend-growth estimates, seasonally and inflation adjusted monthly EPF contribution growth has tapered to 2.7% in February on a year-on-year basis before the voluntary employees contribution rate reduction effective in March, down from around 10% growth in 2011.

He noted that while average household income grew 9.6% per annum between 2012 and 2014 in inflation adjusted terms based on the Statistics Department’s household income survey, this was largely propped up by government cash transfers (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia payments) to the bottom 40% of earners.

“On average, given that 65% of household income is from paid employment, signs of wages growth moderation could weigh on household income growth going forward,” Manokaran says.

He adds that the state of labour market and income growth are among the key underlying factors in assessing the state of economic growth outlook.

Earlier this week, the World Bank slashed its growth forecast for Malaysia from 2016 to 2018 on the weak exports and commodity-price outlook. Its chief economist for the East Asia and Pacific Region, Sudhir Shetty, says despite the region’s favourable prospects, growth is vulnerable to a sharp global financial tightening, a further slowdown in world growth or a faster-than-anticipated slowdown in China.

By Fintan Ng The Star/ANN

Related: 


BNM governor: Take long-term view on adjustment of ringgit

 

Bank Negara’s international reserves at RM405bil 

Bank Negara reserves at RM392.49b 

Banknotes with new governor’s signature out soon 

 
Ombudsman for financial services starts Oct 1
 
Budget 2017 expectations

Sabah corruption – another reason why the ringgit is weak


Related posts:

Water fiasco: RM114 million seized from Sabah water officials

https://youtu.be/01stOYgM9x0 It was a record haul by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission – RM114mil seized from two top officer... 

 

No water but officials flush with funds: abuse of power, nepotism, cronyism, bribery and money laundering

Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah - http://malaysianlogo.blogspot.my/2014/06/jabatan-air-negeri-sabah-sabah.html KOTA KINABALU: Everywhere in Sab... 

 

Water theft: 60% of RM3.3bil project allocation stolen by senior officers

  Jabatan Air Negeri - Customer Service How the millions were stolen? 1. Contracts broken down to small packages of RM100,000 ea...


PBA in a fix over Penang water cut; billion litrea Water waste via leaky pipes  

Water theft: 60% of RM3.3bil project allocation stolen by senior officers

 

Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah - Customer Service

How the millions were stolen?

1. Contracts broken down to small packages of RM100,000 each. This is to ensure the director or the deputy can award the contract.

2. Department carries out a limited tender process whereby between eight and 10 companies registered as contractors with the department are invited to put in their bids.

3. All the companies invited tend to act in concert. The ‘limited tender’ process is ‘fixed’ and given to the lowest bidder.

4. The other companies are paid off for their participation.

5. The project is finally carried out at a fraction of the tendered price.

Senior official: Unprecedented scale of corruption going on since 2010

In a shocking revelation, a senior government official said some 60% – close to RM2bil – of the RM 3.3bil Federal Government allocation for water projects in Sabah was siphoned off into individual pockets.

The projects were broken up into awards of less than RM100,000 each and tendered out to companies owned by the families of two top civil servants.

60% of project allocation stolen

Under scrutiny: MACC sources said they had identified 40 witnesses, mainly state Water Department officials, to have their statements recorded.

KOTA KINABALU: It’s shocking. Sixty sen out of every ringgit allocated by the Federal Government for water projects was siphoned off into the pockets of many individuals.

A senior state government official said only 40% of the federal allocations for water reached the ground in Sabah, and the rest of the money seemed to have been pocketed by individuals.

The official, who has knowledge of developments in the investigations involving the two senior Sabah Water Department officers, said there seemed to be an unprecedented scale of corruption involving the siphoning of federal allocations amounting to RM3.3bil for water projects in Sabah since 2010.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib, 54, and his deputy Teo Chee Kong, 52, and seized over RM115mil, including some RM57mil in cash, from their houses and office.

Two others, including Teo’s older brother – a 55-year-old businessman – and his accountant have been arrested since Tuesday for investigations into what is possibly the country’s biggest abuse of power, bribery and money laundering case.

It is believed the tender process was fixed so that proxy companies would get the project at inflated prices.

In many cases, the projects were broken up into smaller parcels of up to RM100,000 to avoid the tender process.

The director or his deputy can sign off projects below RM100,000.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki has confirmed that there are 38 companies owned by family and friends of the two detained civil servants.

It is learnt that 17 of the companies were connected to the director while 21 were linked to his deputy.

These companies are said to have been used as fronts to take part in limited tenders to secure the projects.

This has been happening over the last five years with the amount adding up, sources explained, but declined to reveal the specific details of the projects.

MACC sources said they had identified 40 witnesses, mainly state Water Department officials involved in processing the contracts and contractors, to have their statements recorded.

A special team of 70 MACC officers are continuing to record statements, and scan through documents and the money trail.

They are also getting the director and his deputy to declare all their assets under Section 36 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 as investigators want to obtain comprehensive details of their wealth.

So far, MACC has recovered some RM57mil in cash found from their offices, homes and safe boxes, frozen RM60mil in bank accounts of the duo including that of a company they were linked to.

They also seized 19.3kg of gold jewellery worth about RM3.64mil from the duo, and some 97 designer ladies handbags worth RM500,000 used by the director’s wife.

They also recovered some 127 land titles from Teo.

MACC is also working to repatriate funds banked into an account in a neighbouring country.

By Muguntan Vanar and Ruben Sario The Star/ANN

Pairin: State had nothing to do with stolen funds

Normal day: It’s business as usual at the Sabah Water Department despite the corruption issue surrounding the office.

KOTA KINABALU: The state government had nothing to do with the RM3.3bil Federal Government allocation to the Sabah Water Depart­ment, from which a large amount has been siphoned off.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the projects allocated since 2010 came under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

Sabahan Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal held the portfolio until 2015, when he was dropped from the Cabinet.

Pairin, who heads the state Industrial Development Ministry, said his ministry had no knowledge of the allocations as the water agency was the implementing agency for the federal funds.

Pairin said the procurement of the projects as well as the payments were handled by the federal ministry and the state water department.

“In light of this development, my ministry will study and propose an appropriate reporting system,” he said.

Investigators are looking into the possibility of some VIPS having links to the bribery and money laundering that have now been uncovered.

The sources, however, said it was still premature to speculate.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman had to step in to put an end to rumours linking the case to Kimanis Umno and also him.

Anifah, the Kimanis Umno division head, said MACC should be allowed to do its job.

He also threatened to take action if the defamatory statements continued to be published.

The Kimanis Umno link came as both the Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib and his deputy Teo Chee Kong are from Beaufort and the Kimanis area.

There were claims on social media that Ag Tahir was the Kimanis Umno treasurer.

This has since been denied.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has also ordered an immediate review of procurement procedures, and monitoring and financial management of all state departments and agencies, particularly those involving allocations and funds outside the state budget.

Musa, who is also state Finance Minister, gave an assurance that the review would not affect the ongoing MACC investigations. - The Star/ANN

Related posts:

No water but officials flush with funds: abuse of power, nepotism, cronyism, bribery and money laundering

Logo Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah - http://malaysianlogo.blogspot.my/2014/06/jabatan-air-negeri-sabah-

Water fiasco: RM114 million seized from Sabah water officials

https://youtu.be/01stOYgM9x0 It was a record haul by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission – RM114mil seized from two top officer... 

 PBA in a fix over Penang water cut; billion litres water ...

Sep 21, 2016 ... PBA in a fix over Penang water cut; billion litres water waste via leaky pipes ... Delay in repairs on a leaking pipeline at Medan Pantai Jerejak causes a ... Jaseni said they were ready to proceed with the repairs on the pipe at ...

 

  Corrupted Customs racket busted: gold bars, cash seized from dirty Customs officers!

 

  The Corruption case in the Youth & Sports Ministry Malaysia is a reflection of broken systems in country 

 

 Bank Rakyat Chairman, Abdul Aziz nabbed over