Adopting fraud diamond theory to predict factors of asset misappropriation fraud among police officers / Mohd Azril Rezza Mohd Razmin

Recently, many cases of asset misappropriation fraud among Royal Malaysia Police Officers have been reported. Such instances have resulted in resource waste and eroded the public’s trust and effectiveness of Royal Malaysia Police (RMP). Past studies on asset misappropriation fraud among Royal Malaysia Police Officers have investigated the population of police officers involved in general duty operations but left behind the population of Internal Security and Public Order (Malay: Keselamatan Dalam Negeri dan Ketenteraman Awam (KDNKA)) department which is the second-largest department among 10 main departments under RMP. So, this study investigated the factors influencing asset misappropriation fraud among police officers in KDNKA department. This study utilized primary data from a questionnaire-based survey of 102 police officers in Battalion 2 General Operation Force under KDNKA department. The result found that the elements under fraud diamond theory, which are rationalization, opportunity, and capability have significant positive relationship with asset misappropriation fraud. An interesting finding from this study is that the element of pressure was found to have a negative relationship with asset misappropriation fraud. This finding indicates that the lower the pressure, the higher probability that a person will be involved in asset misappropriation. This result shows the uniqueness of KDNKA department in Royal Malaysia Police, which might give future researchers the opportunity to try researching more on KDNKA department. Hence, the result of this study would assist the policymakers in developing policies to minimize the cases of asset misappropriation fraud among police officers by taking into account the uniqueness of KDNKA department.