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Many business owners believe they are safe because their company has a code of conduct, an anti-bribery clause in its contracts, or a policy document sitting in a shared folder. Unfortunately, if one of their staff or agents pays a bribe to win business, that belief may not survive a day in court.
Since 1 June 2020, Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (“MACC Act”) has made companies and partnerships criminally liable for bribes paid by people associated with them. The law gives the company only one way out: proving that it had adequate procedures to prevent the bribery from happening.
This article explains what “adequate procedures” means, how the five T.R.U.S.T. principles work in practice, what lessons can be learned from real cases, and what even the smallest business can do today.

Your company is bidding for a large contract. A sales manager, keen to hit his target, quietly hands a “token of appreciation” to someone on the client’s side. The contract is won, the board is pleased, and nobody at the top asks how it was secured.
In the past, if this came to light, the sales manager would face prosecution. The company that enjoyed the profit usually would not. Corruption was treated as a crime committed by individuals, and only individuals were charged.
That position changed with Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (“MACC Act”). Today, the company itself can be charged in court, and its directors and managers may be charged along with it. This article explains how Section 17A works, who it catches, how heavy the penalties are and what businesses can do to protect themselves.