Ti, a member of the MCA central committee, urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to look into other departments and agencies for similar cases of corruption.

Last week MACC had announced the seizure of RM52 million in cash and a total of RM62 million in valuables, luxury items and property, and the arrest of Sabah Water Department’s director and deputy director.

“If there are measures to prevent corruption but no red flags were raised, then we must ask why, Where is the check and balance?” he said of the government’s failure to detect that 60 per cent of the RM3.3 billion federal government allocations for Sabah water projects had been siphoned off.

“This is a serious wake up call to all, especially the government. We need to do a thorough study to overhaul the system,” he said. “Such scandals affect the credibility of all government departments and agencies,” Ti said.

Ti urged the government to engage independent experts and other stakeholders to develop better and more transparent check and balance mechanisms.

The government’s credibility would recover once the suspects involved are charged, and a timeframe is set for the seized monies and assets to be returned to the government.