Business Entities’ Liability for ‘Associated Persons’ Corruption in Malaysia: Key reflections

Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 imposes liability on business entities and their management if persons associated with them offer a bribe for their benefit. It provides a new regulatory capture to the meaning ‘Associated Persons’ and corporate liability. This doctrinal research highlights the associated persons' legal framework that business entities should take cognisance of and incorporate in business operations. A comparative approach is undertaken to investigate how other jurisdictions deal with the issue. The study’s findings are significant to Malaysia’s business entities in curbing the associated persons’ corruption acts. Keywords: corporate liability; associated person; corporate corruption; risk assessment  eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i18.309

Determination of organochlorine pesticides in shrimp by gas chromatographyemass spectrometry using a modified QuEChERS approach

Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) collected during dry and rainy seasons from three different states in Malaysia were analyzed for nine organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, δ-HCH, trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD and p,p′-DDT) using QuEChERS sample preparation method and GC–MS SIM with split/splitless injection mode. The efficiency of combination of primary and secondary amine (PSA) and octadecyl (C18) at 25 mg of PSA and 25 mg of C18 per mL of shrimp extract as the clean-up sorbent to remove matrix interferences was evaluated. By combining PSA and C18, matrix interferences such as gamma-tocopherol and cholesterol were not able to be eliminated. Good separation and high recoveries which ranged from 90 to 105% with associated RSD 0.99

The halal trade war

This paper analyzes the strategic halal policy where the duopoly firms invest into the halal certification under their governments’ subsidization policies.We analyze the firms’ halal level-price choices and the governments’ optimal halal certification investment policies. The analysis is based on third-country model that is modeled in three-stage game. In the first stage the governments determine an optimal policy and in the following stages the firms first compete in halal certification level and then export to an imperfectly competitive third-market. The study shows, among others, that the governments’ optimal halal certification policy, subsidy or tax, depends on the degree of firms’ halal-price competitio

Effects Of Doping Concentration And Annealing Temperature On Indium Doped Zinc Oxide Particles Prepared Via Sol-Gel Method

Doping of indium in zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the means to increase its electrical conductivity. This study focuses on investigating the effects of indium doping concentration (In/Zn = 3%, 5% and 7%) and annealing temperature (200°C, 300°C and 450°C) on the electrical conductivity, structural, morphological and elemental properties of the indium doped zinc oxide (IZO) particles. The synthesis of IZO particles was carried out by a simple sol-gel method where sol-gel was evaporated to xerogel, heat treated and milled to form solid particles. The particles were characterized by four-point probe, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The results obtained demonstrate an impressive increase of electrical conductivity by one order of magnitude at 5% of indium doping compared to the pristine zinc oxide (ZnO) as a result of cumulative charge carriers. Besides, an increase of annealing temperature also shows a positive effect on the electrical conductivity. XRD results show distinctive changes on crystal structure of polycrystalline wurtzite structure and its crystallite size with the change in parameters. FTIR results indicate the effects of both parameters by the presence and elimination of peaks designated for IZO functional group. The SEM-EDX analysis reveals the microstructure morphology at different parameters and validates the existence of each element according to doping concentratio

Effectiveness of dispersive solid phase extraction sorbents for sample clean-up by QuEChERs method for organochlorine pesticides determination in Pacific white shrimp

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are persistent in the environments and have the ability to bioaccumulate in the food chain and are capable of causing various health hazards. The sample preparation techniques used for monitoring of OCPs in food are usually complicated, time consuming, use large volume of solvents and expensive. An ideal multi-residue method with high recoveries should be rapid, easy to perform, accurate, low cost and safer to the analyst due to less exposure to organic solvent and waste. The Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) is one of such methods. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the effectiveness of dispersive solid phase extraction (DSPE) sorbents in removing matrix interferences in Pacific white shrimp, to validate the most effective sorbent using the QuEChERS method and compare to the modified AOAC Official method 983.21. Thus, the QuEChERS sample preparation method DSPE and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with selected ion monitoring mode (SIM) has been improved and applied for the analysis of common OCPs (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, δ-HCH, trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane, p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDD and p,p’-DDT) in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). The combination of primary and secondary amine (PSA), octadecyl (C18) and/or graphitized carbon black (GCB) have been evaluated as clean-up sorbents to samples collected from the state of Kedah, Selangor and Terengganu. Sampling was conducted twice a year between February - June and July - November 2011 at two selected farms from each state. The results have shown the mean recoveries for PSA:C18, PSA:GCB and PSA:C18:GCB ranged between 93–100%, 98-105% and 98-105%, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD) of PSA:GCB > PSA:C18. In the validation study, PSA:C18:GCB was validated for selectivity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity and working range, matrix effect, recovery, trueness and precision using the QuEChERS method. The range for LOD and LOQ were 0.9 - 4.5 ng/g and 3 - 15 ng/g, respectively. The correlation coefficients for matrix-matched calibration curves >0.99 were obtained. All analytes had matrix enhancement effects with mild effect for -HCH, medium for -HCH, -HCH, -HCH, trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane and strong effect for p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDD and p,p’-DDT. Mean recoveries of 98 – 105% with associated RSD of 0.96 were obtained for the modified AOAC Official Method 983.21. All OCPs had mild signal suppression effects for the modified AOAC Official Method 983.21. Mean recoveries of 76 – 110% with associated RSD <6% were obtained. In term of LOD, LOQ, linearity, trueness and precision, the results indicated that the QuEChERS method was better than the modified AOAC Official Method 983.21. The validated QuEChERS method had been applied for the determination of nine OCPs in 65 samples from selected farms in Malaysia. OCPs were not detected in all samples. The results have indicated that this method could be adopted in routine analysis to reduce inspection time and cost of analysis and be used towards the International Standard requirements for laboratory accreditation

Knowledge, attitude and practice on hygiene of Kampung Sungai Karang Darat residents and its related factors November 2003

Introduction: A cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2003 to evaluate the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) level on hygiene of Kampung Sungai Karang Darat residents and its related factors. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study conducted by a group of year four medical students 2003/2004 from Community Health and Family Medicine posting, Kulliyyah of Medicine, IIUM. Data collection methods included observations and interview-guided questionnaires. Out of the total number of 2620 residents, 304 people aged 18 and above from 200 houses which were randomly selected from 600 houses in that village were surveyed on the KAP of hygiene. We then determined the factors that affect the KAP level, and how it in turn influenced the health status of the respondents, particularly their susceptibility towards hygiene-related diseases. Result: From the statistical analysis, it was found that the mean KAP score of the respondents was 26.42+4.15, on a scale that ranged from 0 to 39 with the lowest KAP score of 14 and the highest KAP score of 36. It was then found that the higher the age of the respondents, the lower the KAP score (p<0.001). Higher socioeconomic status was associated with higher KAP score (occupation (p=0.007), academic level (p<0.001), and income per capita (p<0.001)). Malaysians of non-Pahang origin also had higher KAP score compared to residents of Pahang origin (p<0.001). People living in modern houses had a higher KAP value than those living in traditional houses (p<0.001). Housing quality also had effect on the KAP score (r=+0.665). However, the KAP level was not significantly related to gender difference (p=0.162). Personal hygiene had the lowest mean KAP score, followed by domestic hygiene and then community hygiene. Meanwhile, the highest mean low KAP score were found to have no significant preponderance towards hygiene-related diseases (p=0.409) Conclusion: Overall, the KAP level on hygiene of residents of Kampung Sungai Karang Darat was at a satisfactory level