KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 – Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng kicked off his administration's anti-graft campaign today by offering a RM10,000 cash reward to any civil servant who is willing and able to give proof of corrupt practices in the island state.
“I want to encourage people to come out,” the state chief executive told The Malaysian Insider in a phone interview from Penang.
Calling the whistleblower scheme the “i-Awards” (Integrity Awards), Lim noted that he had received several anonymous reports from government servants before he made the public offer today.
Lim declined to say how many such reports he had received. But he added he would be handing out the cash rewards “soon”.
Lim also said the identities of the government whistle-blowers would be protected.
Apart from the cash incentive, Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said those who helped provide his administration with information would head the priority list for promotions.
Fresh from winning a fresh mandate from voters in Penanti in last Sunday’s by-election, Lim appears eager to disconnect his administration from the stain of corruption after former deputy chief minister Mohamed Fairus Khairuddin was accused of taking bribes in several land deals last year.
The ex-Penanti state assemblyman had left under a cloud of suspicion.
While Mohamed Fairus was eventually cleared of all charges by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) before the Penanti by-election, the spectre of graft still looms large in Penang
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