KUALA LUMPUR – Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said his ministry is providing full cooperation and transparency during the investigation and proceedings conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concerning the management and finances of Human Resources Development Corp (HRD Corp).
In a statement, Sivakumar highlighted that his appearance at the PAC’s proceedings was a routine matter, as HRD Corp falls under the ministry’s purview.
“The PAC is an authoritative institution established under the Malaysian Parliament, with its primary objective being to scrutinise and oversee the country’s financial affairs, ensuring transparency and efficient financial administration. Therefore, all the proceedings held are a process that any ministry must go through,”
Sivakumar explained that he was called to testify because HRD Corp operates under his ministry, making it appropriate for him to provide insights into the agency’s procedures and operations, and contributing to the investigation.
He said he has been asked by the PAC to explain the management of funds for training and the effectiveness of programmes conducted by HRD Corp.
He urged all parties to respect due process and refrain from engaging in speculation that might adversely affect the PAC’s investigation.
On Thursday, PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin confirmed a Scoop report that Sivakumar would be summoned on November 2. She also said a Finance Ministry representative in HRD Corp will also appear before the PAC on the same day.
This decision, she said, was made because their names were mentioned during previous proceedings to ensure fairness, she said.
However, Mas Ermieyati also clarified that PAC proceedings are conducted in accordance with Standing Order 85 of the Dewan Rakyat rules, which prohibits the publication of evidence and documents presented to the committee until the committee presents its report to the House.
Regarding the classification of information obtained during PAC proceedings under the Official Secrets Act 1972, Mas Ermieyati referred to an article by Scoop that discussed PAC’s investigation into HRD Corp and expressed disappointment with “unverified” sources quoted in the article.
For the record, Scoop’s Bahasa Malaysia story “PAC bimbang kurang pemantauan dalam HRD Corp” was published on October 24, following the English version published a day earlier.
The article highlighted the PAC’s investigation into allegations of abuse of power and procedural wrongdoings within HRD Corp, an institution managing an estimated RM2 billion in employers’ contributions.
The probe is focused on the lack of proper board oversight in HRD Corp’s decision-making process.
This comes after the PAC questioned two senior office-bearers – HRD Corp chief executive Datuk Shahul Dawood and the Human Resources Ministry’s Deputy Secretary-General (Policy and International) Datuk Amran Ahmad – about the corporation’s operations without a chairman or full board since April.
On October 21, Scoop reported that a governance framework report, intended to prevent future mismanagement and misappropriation, had been removed from the corporation’s system and kept from the current board.
An audit on the Human Resources Development Fund, before its transformation into HRD Corp, was ordered by then-human resources minister M. Kulasegaran in 2018. However, Kulasegaran noted that the report became inaccessible after his departure from the ministry in 2020.
Furthermore, the current leadership of HRD Corp has faced allegations of misleading the board regarding its proposed Skills Passport initiative, with discrepancies in contract procurement valued between RM53 million and RM159.47 million per year, as found by the Finance Ministry. – October 27, 2023