"Mahathir will be charged Soon ?"

‘MACC right to blacklist French telco’

KUALA LUMPUR: The call to blacklist French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is a warning to all businesses in the country.

Transparency International Malaysia said that the MACC was right to tell Telekom Malaysia to cut its ties with Alcatel-Lucent and its subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

On Dec 28 last year, the French company agreed to pay US$137 million in fines after it admitted to bribing officials in Taiwan, Honduras and Malaysia to get contracts.

“MACC’s action will serve as a warning to all enterprises including multi-national companies that bribery to secure procurement is unacceptable,” said TI-M’s president Paul Low.

According to the US Justice Department, Alcatel violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) before merging with the US-based Lucent Technologies.

The French company admitted to reaping more than US$48 million in profits as a result of bribing officials between 2001 and 2006.

Following this revelation, Telekom Malaysia carried out an investigation. The Alcatel-concerned events occurred between October 2004 and February 2006.

Low said that Malaysia needed to emulate the US by adopting laws similar to the FCPA, or the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act 2010.

He also said that the MACC as well as the Attorney-General needed to act without fear or favour against parties guilty of corruption, when there is clear evidence of their crimes.

Officially-sanctioned corruption

Meanwhile, MACC consultation and corruption prevention panel chairman Ramon Navaratnam agreed with Low’s views on adopting more anti-graft laws in the country.

He said that legislation such as the FCPA and the Bribery Act 2010 forced a company’s top management to think twice before turning a blind eye to corruption.

“With these laws, the onus would be on a company’s chairman, the board of directors and the chief executive officer to ensure that all is above board.”

“If the law is there, senior officials would have to take a serious view of staff and company practices, as they would be responsible for their actions,” the former TI-M president said.

He added that these laws would encourage a company’s management to take pre-emptive measures on corruption. This he said, would dissuade lower-level staff in the process.

Navaratnam also commented on “facilitating fees”, which Alcatel-Lucent was guilty of, through its alleged payments to Telekom Malaysia Bhd.

According to the Business Anti Corruption website, facilitation payments are bribes typically made to government officials to speed up business processes.

He added that although these fees were a global problem, especially in Third World countries, action was only taken against them in recent times.

“It was only recently that the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development started discouraging MNCs from paying these fees,” said Navaratnam , referring the practice as “officially-sanctioned corruption.”