WHY PROCUREMENT CORRUPTION PERSISTS DESPITE E-PROCUREMENT: EVIDENCE FROM PROSECUTED CASES IN MALAYSIAN PUBLIC AGENCIES (2007–2020)

Abstract

Electronic procurement (e-procurement) is widely promoted as a transparency and anti-corruption tool, yet prosecuted procurement corruption cases in Malaysia have persisted despite nationwide adoption in 2004. This qualitative study examines where, how, and why corruption survives in a digitalised procurement environment by reviewing 30 fully prosecuted public-procurement corruption cases from 2007–2020 obtained from the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) and triangulating them with semi-structured interviews with four enforcement-agency investigation officers. Guided by Agency Theory and the Fraud Triangle Theory, cases were classified by procurement category, method, offence under the MACC Act 2009, and procurement stage, while interview data were thematically analysed. Corruption was concentrated in supplies, tenders above RM500,000, abuse-of-position offences, and the tender-document preparation and tenderer-selection stage. Two recurring modus operandi were bid-rigging cartels using multiple or shell companies and falsified records, and bribery to obtain confidential ceiling prices or sabotage competitors. Informants attributed persistence primarily to abuse of power, undeclared conflicts of interest, information leakage, compromised integrity, and inadequate supplier due diligence rather than to deficiencies in the e-procurement platform. The findings suggest that digitalisation can displace rather than eliminate corruption by moving risk toward discretion-rich evaluation and award decisions. The study therefore provides a prosecuted-case evidence base for targeting human-factor controls and for assessing implementation of Malaysia’s Government Procurement Act 2025.