Corruption cause the country RM10 billion a year

Corruption, if left to fester, can cause the country to lose RM10 billion a year in domestic growth.Pemudah, the government's special task force to facilitate business, gave this cost of corruption statistic in pushing its case for the Anti-Corruption Agency to be given a quick fix and a much-needed shot in the arm to give investors confidence to do business here. Statistics made available to theSun show the ACA's performance is dismal -- it has only investigated 10.1% or just 7,223 cases out of the total of 71,558 reported between 2000 and 2006.Although the ACA is trying to better itself, the figures speak for themselves and paint a gloomy picture of things to come. Of the total number of cases reported in that seven-year period,only 4.1% or 2,905 people were arrested,1.8% or 1,287 persons charged/prosecutedand only 0.7% or 524 actually convicted.“We should perhaps look at emulating the success of Hong Kong, which has done very well in curbing corruption,”Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigated 77.2% or 21,649 cases out of the 28,057 reported, with 29.2% ending up in arrests.“On an average, the Hong Kong Government spends close to RM40 per capita on anti-corruption efforts. In Malaysia, the sum is just a mere RM5 per capita.”Even if RM1 billion is spent on improvising the ACA, the Government will actually be saving RM 9 billion.”The Government's allocation for the ACA last year was RM148 million.