Over or under the counter, cops can’t receive duit raya, says lawyer
SN Nair, a former senior police officer, says the government general orders and MACC are clear on this.
PETALING JAYA: The receiving of duit raya, or ang pow, is wrong whether given over or under the counter to police personnel, says a senior lawyer.
SN Nair, who was a former senior police officer, said Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh had put the affected personnel in a difficult position by handing out duit raya to police personnel in Jasin, Melaka, recently.
He said Akmal had put the police personnel in a difficult position as they would rather not hurt him by publicly refusing the gesture, especially him being an assemblyman.
“Akmal being an elected representative should have been sensitive when dealing with the police personnel. I feel very bad for the hardworking cops who were put to such scrutiny because of his obvious political agenda.
“If he is as altruistic as he claims, he should make generous contributions to the police welfare funds,” he told FMT.
Nair said not only are the government general orders clear on this, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has clearly spelt this out on its website based on the provisions in the related circulars issued by the public services department
According to the code of conduct for civil servants on the giving and acceptance of gifts, he said, public officials are not permitted to receive or give any, including through other parties associated with their official duties.
“However, in any unavoidable situations to decline or in any doubt, the officer is advised to immediately submit a written report of the gift to the head of department for approval,” said Nair, quoting the MACC website.
He was commenting on Akmal’s action of giving out duit raya packets containing RM20 each to 420 police personnel in Jasin.
After netizens took him to task for this, the outspoken Umno Youth leader said this was a personal tradition for him during Ramadan, aimed at expressing gratitude to the police force and civil service for their dedicated service.
“It’s not wrong … It would be wrong if it is done under the table. I openly distributed the raya packets containing RM20 to 420. It would be a different story if only the station chief
received it,” he had said.
In this case, Nair said, the police personnel are required to give a written report to their superiors before they can keep thye money.
“It does not look nice at all for police staff in uniform to receive any form of gift, especially cash, when on duty. Under Section 19 of the Police Act, they are deemed to be on duty all the time,” he said.
Nair agreed with Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain when he stated last month that it is an offence for police personnel to receive ang pow while on duty. Razarudin said this act is wrong as its source can be questioned and construed as an element of corruption.
“I am sure the IGP must have relied on existing police rules and regulations when he said this,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment