Many politicians will suffer sleepless nights learning about Anwar’s resolve in unveiling the secrets lurking inside the Pandora Papers.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has kick-started his corruption-busting campaign which we hope will reverse the culture of corruption in Malaysia’s civil service lethally bogging down the government’s image as well as the country’s economic development.

Individuals probed must not be from any particular party, irrespective of their seniority or offices held, and must be penalized if found guilty.

Corruption has been existing in this country as omnipresent as air, sunlight and water over the last few decades, and has indeed evolved into a very much integral part of Malaysia’s corporate sector, civil service and even day-to-day lives of ordinary Malaysians.

And it appears that the only way to bring the dust out from under the carpet is to change the government and its chief commander.

Greed is very much an innate quality of humanity, or we would have been spared from the scourge of corruption during the four and a half years between May 2018 — when we changed our federal government for the first time since independence — and the 15th general election last November.

It all started with the discovery of RM300 million of dubious sources in Bersatu’s bank accounts!

Subsequently, the party’s information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan has been slapped with two counts of charges for soliciting and receiving RM7 million in bribes.

Wan Saiful was charged with soliciting bribe from a businessman as an inducement for him to help a company Nepturis secure a government highway project at pre-qualification stage in April 2020.

Additionally, he was also charged with receiving through his company WSA Advisory Group RM6.96 million from Nepturis between July and September last year, to help Nepturis secure a Letter of Acceptance for the highway project.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin pointed out later that the party was a victim of “selective prosecution,” as several party leaders had been charged for collecting funds to carry out political activities.

Wan Saiful’s case may just be the tip of the iceberg. More “bigger cases” are to be uncovered soon.

Even though Muhyiddin has cried foul over the charges faced by Bersatu leaders, such conditional offers (money in exchange for project) cannot be exempted from suspicious corruption. Therefore, we should just leave it to the court to decide the legality of the party’s RM300 million questionable funds.

Anwar says his government will take stern actions against anyone found guilty of corruption, whether the person is from any specific party or is the relative of a big shot.

The PM also says the government will never allow any company to rake in unjustified profits in the name of helping bumiputera companies, including demanding the companies to bank in specific amounts of money into personal or party’s bank accounts.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) started publishing some 11.9 million confidential records known as Pandora Papers beginning October 2021, exposing the tricks of almost a hundred national leaders, billionaires and socialites using their offshore companies to conceal their wealth to the tune of US$32 trillion, including real estate, art works, jewelries and other non-monetary assets, for tax evasion purposes.

Back then Anwar, in his capacity as Opposition Leader, urged the parliament to discuss the content of the Pandora Papers which implicated, among others, then finance minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

Now that he has become prime minister, Anwar has instructed the MACC, PDRM, Bank Negara, Inland Revenue Department and Labuan Financial Services Authority responsible for the investigation on allegations in Pandora Papers to summon those involved for questioning.

They will be required to explain why they have set up offshore accounts to harbor hundreds of millions of ringgit in assets of inexplicable sources.

The PM says some 3,000 names have been mentioned worldwide in Pandora Papers, although few countries have actually taken any action. Nonetheless, Malaysia has resolved to initiate investigations to stop illegal fund transfers.

He also says the enforcement authorities will focus their investigations on politicians, including former prime ministers and finance ministers, because these people could have very likely abused their powers during their tenures to transfer their illegally acquired personal wealth out of the country.

It is believed that many politicians on both sides of the divide will have sleepless nights learning about Anwar’s resolve in unveiling the secrets lurking inside the Pandora Papers. As for ordinary citizens like us, the PM’s move will have our undivided support.

Anyone found guilty of siphoning illegitimate funds into their own bank accounts must be dealt with sternly.