Everyone under the sun have been blamed. George Soros, the CIA, and the list goes on.

Blamed for what? Blamed for harming the progress of Malaysia and our economic empowerment.

Well guess what, the cat is out of the bag.

Civil servants have been found to have siphoned off millions from the national budget for their own enrichment, funds meant to develop the rakyat and the rural folk.

We have always suspected this. Many have generalised all over that those holding power were corrupt, but we had no proof and with the many laws being enforced against whistleblowers rather than criminal themselves, we have to tread carefully lest we are charged with criminal defamation or improper use of network facilities (the new favourite after the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 or Sosma and the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 or Poca).

Talking about corruption, why don’t we just arrest the culprits under Sosma and Poca as corruption is against national security and interest and with these laws it is easier to nail the culprits?

The amounts stolen are staggering but now we can truly believe that it may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Ministers are now asking the staff not to be demoralised. Seriously, why should anyone be demoralised for a criminal being nabbed?

Surely staff will be more demoralised when they can clearly see their superiors living a lifestyle not befitting their income earning capacity.

In the latest case involving the Rural and Regional Development Ministry director-general, surely the family would have known that the monies are from ill-gotten gains? Just how many handbags does one need? Judging from the details released by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the culprits could have used a different handbag every three days once and not return to the same bag until one year has passed.

This is mind-boggling at the level of criminality as well as the utter stupidity in flaunting it all over.

Everyone got comfortable, everyone got arrogant, and everyone thought they will get away with it as they probably know someone else who got away with it. We moan that big fish do not get caught; I am okay for any size fish to get caught as it will put the fear of God into the rest.

Based on the balance of probabilities, am sure they are many more such cases left to be uncovered, so those with their whole body in the cookie jars will be shivering in fear of when it will be their turn, it will most definitely come, if not in this life it will be in the afterlife.

What about bribe-givers?

However, I am still disappointed that MACC has not charged any of the bribe-givers. They must be charged and must be hauled up to court; it is unfair that only bribe-taker is being charged.

In the Lim Guan Eng case, both the alleged giver and alleged recipient have been charged, so why is this action not being taken in all cases without exception?

There are also proposals for MACC to have its own prosecuting powers so that they can decide independently. Anyone who believes so are being naïve and living in a fantasy-land.

Any so-called independent role or power rests in the person who is holding the power as well as in the hands of the person who can appoint the person who can act independently?

We have an independent attorney-general and independent courts, so why do we doubt their decisions?

MACC has also warned civil servants from taking overseas golfing holidays as leeches will be attracted to them and offer them inducement to be corrupt. This is another case of naïve and wishful thinking.

Corruption does not take place in golf courses alone, it takes place everywhere.

Many high-ranking Malaysian officials were in London during the 2016 year-end and their movements can be easily obtained without much ado from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as many post photos of their itinerary and gatherings. So it is very easy to mark out a target. Some even post photos of the airline class they are travelling and the hotel they are staying.

In my opinion and many others have suggested it, the best way to catch out corruption is to target those who are living lavishly and do a reconciliation of their income and expenses over the last seven to 10 years.

This is the best and easiest way, if they have been generating heavy income to support their lifestyle, then this would be evident from their tax filing and income data. At the very least, if the earnings are all legitimate but no tax filing has been done, the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) can go after them for back taxes and punitive penalties.

If it has been family wealth, there will always be paperwork and documents to support it. If it is claimed that the parents passed the wealth to them but then the parents should not be having that sort of wealth based on their income, investigate the parents. The IRB can go back into the years as far as they want if fraud is suspected.

If someone were to ask me to show my income and expenses details since I started working, I can show it to them as I have all the records.

Many may not keep records, but corroborating evidence can be obtained from banks, employers and government agencies such as IRB, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and any others that hold rakyat’s data.

The US Inland Revenue is famed for their dogged approaches in getting at tax defaulters; they undertake tax audits which entail this sort of income and expense reconciliation although their focus is on tax defaulters and not corruption.

‘Brown paper bag’ job

When one is starting training as an accountant , one will inevitable get a so-called ‘brown paper bag’ job which simply put is all the receipts and bits and pieces are just handed to you without any order and most of the time a lot of information will be missing. Accountants then will undertake what is termed as an incomplete records job and gather supporting documents from various sources and come up with a set of accounts.

This is what is gravely and urgently needed to catch all in a wide dragnet for our fight against corruption.

Malaysia will never be rid of corruption; in fact I see it will get worse.

Why do I think so, because many only complain if they are not party to any gift-receiving, once they belong to the recipient list, they will be stumped. Then there are others who will give bribes to obtain what they don’t deserve, such as being let off from punishment or getting contracts for what they are not eligible or have the skills for.

Many want to get rich quickly as they see their contemporaries living a lavish lifestyle although young, some may be enjoying the rotten fruits their parents collected but never got caught.

Malaysia is a country governed by proposal, every Tom, Dick and Harry are submitting proposals to the government on daily basis and these then turn out to be policies and subcontracted. Contracts for managing calling visas, visa issuance in foreign countries, customs clearance, foreign worker health screening, government online payment of dues to suppliers, road tax renewals, someone even submitted bids for managing the selection process for national service.

It is not that the government has a master plan and ask for proposals; the proposals become the master plan once the sponsors accept them (sponsors being politician or civil servants).

In a nutshell, it is a losing battle. Don’t agree with me; let’s see how 2027 would look like then, in 10 years.