The Special Complaints Commission Bill 2007 was tabled for the first reading in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The Bill, which originated from the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

The proposed commission will consist of a chairperson to be appointed by the prime minister, the Inspector-General of Police, Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general, and three other members to be appointed by the prime minister.

The commission may appoint officers of ACA, Bank Negara, Securities Commission, National Audit Department, police force and other officers from the public service on secondment to the commission as task force members.

The task force members will have the powers of a police officer of whatever rank as provided for under the Criminal Procedure Code, and the powers will be in addition to the powers provided for under the Special Complaints Commission Act.

The commission will be granted annual funding by the government and will be required to submit an annual report to Parliament.

Its proposed functions are to:

• Receive complaints from any person in relation to misconduct of an enforcement officer

• Refer complaints received from any person in relation to misconduct of an enforcement officer to the appropriate disciplinary authority or an enforcement agency

• Require the task force to investigate the complaints of misconduct of an enforcement officer

• Assess the investigation of the task force and to determine whether the alleged misconduct of the enforcement officer is of criminal or disciplinary nature

• Forward the investigation paper and other document relating to the misconduct to the public prosecutor or disciplinary authority for further action

• Receive feedback on the action taken by the public prosecutor or disciplinary authority and to inform the complainant of the status of the complaint

• Do such other things as it deems fit to enable it to perform its functions effectively

However, the commission will not take up complaints which are the subject matter of any disciplinary and court proceedings, investigation by the enforcement agency and complaints that have been determined by the court.

Wider focus

Met later at the Parliament lobby, Nazri explained that the Bill covers all enforcement agencies as it would be "ridiculous" for the commission to only focus on one such agency.

"That was the concept from the very beginning when it was still a draft Bill. The concept has always been to cover the entire (range of) enforcement agencies," he said.

Nazri said that the commission will function as a one-stop centre to look into misconduct and complaints and will only involve non-corrupt activities and agencies.

"The Public Complaints Bureau will act as the secretariat and it will be integrated into the new commission, which itself will come under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department," he added.

The tabling of the Bill comes close to two years after Prime Minister finally gave the nod in January last year to the formation of the IPCMC.

The idea of creating a powerful watchdog was mooted by the Royal Commission on the Police Force, but came up against strong initial objections from the police and certain Umno politicians who argued that the existing internal mechanism was sufficient to instil discipline.

The police later withdrew their objections, but the rationale - that any such body should be tasked with overseeing discipline in all enforcement agencies - has been retained in the Bill currently before Parliament.