Malaysia’s national energy company Petronas has confirmed that one of its junior level executives has been arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for suspected graft. The news underscores that the risk of corrupt practises remains high at Petronas.
Last year, nine Petronas employees were sacked following an internal probe into corruption that related to maintenance and service contracts between Petronas’ upstream subsidiary and a long-standing contractor, reported the Edge Markets on 28 November 2021. The Petronas employees were found to be receiving illicit cash payments or paid holidays to exotic locations from the contractors.
Following that corruption case, Petronas chief executive Tengku Taufik gave a stern warning to his staff against corrupt practises. In an internal video to employees Taufik touched on the “extremely worrying issue” of corruption, saying that integrity cases “remains elevated” at the national oil company, reported the Edge.
In the latest case, Petronas said in a statement on Saturday, that it will fully cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in its investigations. The state-backed oil company said it “staunchly condemns all forms of misconduct among its employees. To this end, Petronas has been working closely with the MACC since 2012 and will continue this collaboration to stamp out corruption within the group.”
Petronas “has zero tolerance against corruption and will continue to leverage its internal mechanisms to prevent corrupt behaviour. Its code of conduct and business ethics expressly prohibits improper solicitation, bribery and other misconduct by employees, directors and third parties performing work or services for or on behalf of the companies in the group,” said the national oil and gas company.
Petronas provided no further details on the latest investigation.