Profiling Fraudsters: Empirical Evidence from The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Website

Abstract

Cases of fraud involving public servants have become public attention since they are entrusted to serve the public and manage the public fund. Corruption incidence among public servants led to a trust deficit and tarnished the image of public sector agencies. Even though public sector agencies in Malaysia including the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) are transparent in disclosing details of offenders via their website to raise public awareness, cases involving fraud among public servants remained entrenched. At the national level, the National Anti-corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023 has been introduced in 2019 as part of the Malaysian government's effort to counter corruption since 63.3% of corruption complaints came from the public sector. In addition, Transparency International reported a Corruption Perception Index of 48 for Malaysia in 2021 and ranked 62 out of 180 countries. This indicates that the perceived level of corruption in Malaysia is still high with the government struggling to combat corruption within the public sector. In light of this predicament, this study compiles a profile of fraudsters among the public servants convicted under Malaysian law. This study adopted a qualitative stance using secondary data with a content analysis on real cases disclosed on the MACC website from the year 2019 to 2021. Findings revealed that most of the public servants’ offenders are the enforcement officers with bribery cases involving as low as RM20. This study may act as an eye opener to the public on the amount and extend to the fraud committed by public sector employees. Apart from that, it may also assist authorities to plan strategies for mitigating the incidence of fraud among public servants.