Uda intensifies efforts to combat corruption in construction sector
10 Oct 2022 11:45am
Uda Holdings Berhad (Uda) president cum chief executive officer Mohd Salem Kailany - BERNAMA
Its president cum chief executive officer, Mohd Salem Kailany, said the Procurement Integrity Pact is a declaration by Uda and its business partners to avoid corruption and misconduct.
Through the initiative, Uda and its business partners cannot pay, offer, request or accept bribes to obtain any job, contract or tender.
"If there is a violation or non-compliance, the bidder can be terminated from the contract, disqualified from bidding, stripped of earnest money rights and blacklisted, while the staff involved can also be subject to disciplinary action and handed over to the authorities,” he told Bernama recently.
Elaborating, he said corruption in the construction sector could occur if the work carried out does not comply with standard operating procedures, and there is no application of corporate governance values and a transparent and competitive work culture.
Mohd Salem said Uda had obtained the ISO 37001: 2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS) certification last year to strengthen the commitment to prevent corruption at all levels of the company’s workforce.
He added that Uda, which is one of the agencies under the supervision of the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry, was the first agency to receive the certification.
"Uda also established strategic cooperation and smart partnerships with MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM), Transparency International - Malaysia and the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance to uphold a work culture with integrity and create an effective corruption prevention ecosystem.
"Last year, Uda also carried out the annual Integrity Assessment Tools survey developed by IIM to measure and benchmark the practices and culture of governance, integrity and anti-corruption in the company,” he said.
To further strengthen the efforts to combat corruption, Uda, with the support and commitment of the Board of Directors and the company’s top management, has implemented the annual Declaration of Assets and Liabilities since January this year.
"Employees at all levels, including Board members, are obliged to declare assets and liabilities, whether owned or inherited by themselves and their spouses, in a bid to prevent corruption, conflicts of interest and abuse of power as well as increasing transparency and public trust,” he said.
Mohd Salem further said that the declaration could ensure the ownership of property and lifestyle of workers is balanced with their financial capabilities, adding that it must be made every year even without any property or dependents; when joining Uda; when acquiring new property or dependents; and during the disposal of property.
Apart from introducing its own initiatives, Uda is also committed to complying with anti-corruption initiatives introduced by the MACC, such as the enforcement of Section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 and the implementation of integrity and anti-corruption-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
Mohd Salem said Uda is in the midst of devising an appropriate CSR programme to support the government’s and MACC’s efforts to fight corruption.
He also said Uda believes that the enforcement of Section 17A of the MACC Act can create a fair, clean and corruption-free business environment and hopes that it could encourage commercial organisations to carry out anti-corruption efforts and promote good governance.
The section serves as a guideline for creating a corruption-free company, and Uda will not compromise with any official involved in misconduct of corruption, he added. - BERNAMA
