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The Law on Presumption in Corruption Cases in Malaysia

Rohana Abdul Rahman — 2015-01-23

From a legal perspective, bribery and corruption cases can be unduly complicated and difficult to prove because there is no real victim. In many corruption cases, the prosecution faces hostile or uncooperative witnesses who refuse to assist the prosecution in such cases. To reduce the complexity of proving that any advantage was given corruptly, the law on presumption of corruption has been incorporated in the old Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, and later in Anti-Corruption Act 1997 and currently the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Act 2009. There has been mixed reaction from the prosecution and defense lawyers with respect to the law on presumption of corruption in bribery and corruption cases. This paper seeks to highlight the application of the presumption of corruption in certain circumstances as provided in the statute, the right to defend on balance of probability and whether such presumption is contrary to human rights. The paper argues that once statutory presumption of corruption is invoked, it can be challenging to rebut and the burden of proof must remain on the prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. The paper stresses that presumption of corruption is rebuttable if the accused is able to discharge his burden of proving on a balance of probabilities that his receipt of the same was not a gratification.

Preliminary Fraud Risk Assessment of a Pharmaceutical Distributor

Harold L. Codaste — 2015-01-23

According to the CPA-Journal Fraud Aware report, small businesses (classified as those with less than 100 employees) suffer from fraud more frequently than large organizations and are hit by higher average losses. The purpose of this research was to initially assess the fraud level of a pharmaceutical distributor in Mandaue City. The participating business in this study was a pharmaceutical distributor of medicines. Descriptive design and simple statistics were used in this research. The organization had 11 to 50 employees. The assessment was only a guiding tool to assess the level of fraud, not the existence of fraud in the subject of the study. The fraud risk level was 66.88%. This fraud level meant that the level of fraud of business was moderate. This analysis was based on Williams and Kollar (2013). The controls needed improvement. In the analysis of the second-problem statement, the fraud risk level was moderate. Indeed, moderate risk meant improvement on the internal controls because only the majority of the controls were adhered by the management of the business leaving the rest substantially unattended. Thus, emphasis on certain accounting controls can lower the fraud risk of the business. In general, the recommendations aimed either to correct existing business practices or to enforce the implementation of business controls embodied in the tool used in the study.

The Effectiveness of Establishing Honesty Canteen to Fight against Corruption in Ahmad Dahlan University Yogyakarta Indonesia: A Positive Psychological Study

Ahmad Muhammad Diponegoro — 2015-01-23

The Indonesian government through the attorney general, introduced a new way to fight corruption in the country. This is what they called the honesty canteen, which was established almost in every school and university across the country. The aim of this study is to determine the students’ opinions about the effectiveness of honesty canteens to fight against corruption. This research was conducted at Ahmad Dahlan University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. One hundred undergraduates at Ahmad Dahlan University were surveyed. The data indicate that honesty canteens are being supported by the students. The honesty canteens were formerly established in several places and different campuses in Ahmad Dahlan University. The students who were surveyed in both campuses (Campus 1 and Campus 2) supported the establishment of honesty canteens. However, they worried about the honesty canteens’ loss. The students were alike in their analysis about who is to blame for honesty canteens’ failures. However, a reliably larger percentage of psychology respondents uttered apprehension and enthusiasm to join honesty transaction practices.

The Veracity of Vote Buying: Perspectives of the Philippine Electoral System

Ferdinand T. Abocejo — 2015-01-23

Vote-buying during election is a phenomenon in Philippine politics clandestinely practiced as underground activities by political candidates who utilize it as a political strategy. This study examined the vote buying phenomenon of the Philippines during periodic elections in the national and local levels. It utilized secondary data from various source agencies and published refereed journals on practices of fraud and vote buying which have crucially shape out election results and the electoral system of the country. The findings suggest that Filipino traditional voters attribute vote buying to “patron-client relations” during elections where parity and justice are momentarily accomplished when political candidates carry out their obligations and lend supports with vested interests to their constituents. Operationally for many Filipino voters, vote buying is a tangible “gift” from aspiring candidates which influences their choice and produce instrumental compliance. This phenomenon underlying the patron-client ties manifests a two-fold bond of reciprocity and mutual obligation linking individuals of disproportionate social status and authority based on the exchange of money and votes. Those less educated and rural area residents are among the more vulnerable electoral groups to vote buying. The study concludes that vote buying as practiced in the Philippines has penetrated all levels of the bureaucracy. The veracity of vote-buying has become culturally intricate with fraud, intimidation and violent means to win the electoral race.

Good Governance Attributes in Terms of Adequacy and Effectiveness of Public Works

Pedro B. Bernaldez — 2015-01-23

Good governance is an antidote to graft and corruption in the implementation of government projects. In public works, gauging the adequacy and effectiveness of program/project evaluation may reflect the absence of graft in the disbursement of funds and imposition of relevant administrative rules and procedures. This study was conducted to describe good governance through adequacy and effectiveness of program implementation of the “Operation Baklas Billboards” in Region V, Philippines. This formed a basis for implying the low level of graft and corruption in public works. The study was conducted in the entire Bicol Region using respondents from the local offices of public works and highways. Correlation of the two variables was done. The findings revealed high levels of adequacy and effectiveness in the components of the “Operation Baklas Billboards” which were also correlated positively. Nonetheless, the respondents advanced strategies for further enhancement of the program in road safety management. It was implied that low level of graft and corruption could have been possible surmised.

Social Anatomy of Graft and Corruption in the Philippines

Christopher F. Bueno — 2014-01-26

The research analysis of graft and corruption has been widely studied and described as the social cancer in the political structure and process of the Philippine society. It has been identified within the realm of political corruption that deterred the economic growth and development as the main cause of underdevelopment in developing countries in Asia and Africa. This study is a culture-based analysis to synthesize the substantive and temporal dimension of Public Administration on its social relationships in the bureaucratic perspectives of graft and corruption in the Philippines. The dialectic consideration of this study proves to be significantly relevant why until now graft and corruption remained to be the major concern even there are effective legal-institutional mechanisms such as anti-corrupt practice act to protect the government resources for the implementation of the pro-poor program in the Philippine society. The critical analysis also reflects on the essence of social acceptance and cultural reciprocity from in sociological point of view on the nature of political corruption. The culture-based approach is guided by the in-group analysis and the social perplexity of human action as to the ethical and social values reflecting inner reality of political corruption in the Philippines.

GDP Per Capita, Economic Freedom Index, Political Culture and Freedom of the Press Index as Determinants of Corruption Perception Index: A Global Study

Genaro V. Japos — 2014-01-26

Transparency International publishes annually the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by ranking countries on their perceived levels of corruption as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. Corruption is the misuse of public power for private benefit. The study aimed to find the determinants of CPI. The descriptive inferential design was used involving 146 countries with complete data sets through data mining methodology. The Cluster Analysis, Pearson r, multiple linear regression analysis, stepwise regression model were used. The results showed that Gross Domestic Product per Capita, Economic Freedom Index, Political Culture, and Freedom of the Press Index emerged as the determinants of Corruption Perception Index. The study concludes that the four determinants explain 87 percent of the variation for CPI. Least Developed Countries and Developing Countries had the greatest vulnerability to corruption. In contrast, Developed Countries had lower corruption.

Determinants of Voting Behavior in Roxas City, Philippines

Randy R. Gigawin — 2014-01-26

Voting is a complex form of public opinion that is always surrounded by the unfamiliar issues and diversified opinions. This descriptive-correlational study determined the voting behavior of voters in Banica, Roxas City. The respondents were 246 randomly selected registered voters taken from 18 polling precincts using the stratified proportional sampling. The data needed were gathered using the researcher-made Social Group Context Voting Behavior Questionnaire and Attitudinal Context Voting Behavior Questionnaire that underwent content and construct validation and reliability analysis. The statistical tools used were mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent samples, One-way ANOVA, and Multiple Regression (Enter Method). Under the social group context, voters were generally regionalistic except those who have not availed formal schooling and have reached mastersâ€™ level and above that were found to be popularity-oriented and those who were earning P 10,001 to P 20,000 and Non-Roman Catholic that were found to be particularistic. For their voting behavior under the attitudinal context, voters were typically idealistic except those who have reached elementary level that were found to be pragmatic and voters who were earning P 20,001 and above that were issue-oriented. In addition, their voting behavior under the social group context did not significantly differ when classified according to their age, sex, educational attainment, monthly income level, and religion.

Polyfacetic Masks of Corruption: Typologies, Categories, Forms and Levels

José Vargas-Hernández — 2014-01-26

This paper is aimed to analyze the multiple forms and faces of corruption, its typology and levels. After reading this paper, readers should have a clear idea about what is corruption and how corruption is classified in different ways. The analysis begins reviewing a typology categorizing political corruption, economic corruption and public administration corruption and showing some examples of typologies, establishing the levels of corruption and indicating where it can be encountered. It is concluded that corruption is just as multifaceted concept as there are societies and economic and political systems, embracing from the broad concept of corruption to the narrow legal concept of bribery. However, it is difficult to assess the overall levels of corruption phenomena based on empirical or perceived data which do not reflect the realities of corruption world.

Determinants of Political Corruption: A Conceptual Framework

Pedro B. Bernaldez — 2014-01-26

Corruption has continuously challenged social scientists as a phenomenon that seems invincible although it has been proven to plague societies since government, as a social institution, was invented. The task is daunting but also very challenging, indeed, to resist; thus, this study was conducted to confirm what the determinants of political corruption are. Given that myriad studies have been conducted around the world on the issue area, this meta-analysis of at least twenty cross-country and country-specific studies was done. The analysis yielded the following factors as related to political corruption either positively or negatively. The (1) economic determinants were: level of development, economic growth, income, economic freedom, globalization, resources, trade openness and foreign direct investment; (2) political development were: federal form, democracy, press freedom, legal system, political participation, political competition and political stability; (3) social determinants: history, education, ethnicity and religion; and, (4) organizational determinants: democratic institutions, decentralization and government expenditure.

Analyzing the Economic Costs of Corruption Using a Basic Keynesian Framework: Part 1

Juanito B. Aliño, Jr. — 2014-01-26

This study attempts to analyze the impact of corruption on the economy by adopting the Keynesian Framework. Current studies show that corruption has adverse effects on GDP, GDP growth rate, and investment, among others. Such studies, however, used the “economic cost-corruption perception index” model. An alternative model is to adopt a Keynesian framework incorporating corruption as a factor in the model. Utilizing the concepts of investment and government multipliers, the comparative analysis between the “with”-and“without” corruption is used in analyzing the economic cost of corruption. The results show that government multiplier is less than the investment multiplier when there is corruption. Based on the theses/arguments, this study concludes that (a) when there is corruption, the impact of government expenditure on the economy is less than the impact of investment expenditure on the economy, (b) the Keynesian model can enhance the explanatory power of the existing “economic cost-corruption perception index” model of analyzing the economic cost of corruption, and (c) the results of integrating corruption into the Keynesian model reveal that GDP and GDP growth rate are overestimated for countries with a certain proportion of government expenditure that go to corruption.

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