KUALA LUMPUR – Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) chief operations officer (COO) Datuk Ariff Farhan Doss was terminated for among others, whistleblowing to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Auditor-General (A-G) and Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).
It is understood a show cause letter from HRD Corp alleged that the COO had made false reports to the two institutions and by making those reports he had breached company confidentiality.
Ariff was also accused of causing HRD Corp’s senior management to be hauled up by the PAC over purported irregular transactions and conduct at the company, particularly on matters concerning the Skills Passport initiative.
HRD Corp is understood to have maintained the position that allegations over irregularities in the Skills Passport initiative are false.
It is also believed that in Ariff’s response to HRD Corp’s show cause, the COO asserted he had never made any reports to the PAC or the National Audit Department, but was instead called up to give a statement.
Despite his explanations to the corporation, it is understood Ariff was later terminated from his position in HRD Corp some time in May.
It is understood that Ariff has filed a claim at the industrial relations department for unlawful dismissal.
On November 23 last year, Ariff testified to the PAC confirming that the Skills Passport was his own initiative intended to be free for use.
“The Skills Passport is a concept that I created and came up with. But when I developed the Skills Passport it was meant to be free and was supposed to be done in-house.
“But, somewhere along the line I was told that the minister (Datuk Seri M. Saravanan) had some good people whom he wanted to be involved in the project,” Ariff was quoted as saying in PAC’s transcripts.
He told the committee while negotiations were supposed to be ongoing, Ariff found out later that an agreement was inked with a private company before the 15th General Election.
Ariff also mentioned that there was an internal audit over the initiative’s irregularities, but auditors failed to consult him.
“I remember April 12, there was a heated discussion on the Skills Passport by board member Datuk Rosli Yaakub.
“I remembered him disagreeing about how it was minuted. It was said that the approval (for the initiative) was given but in his mind, he did not approve because it wasn’t a board paper.
“It was just a chief executive update. So, in his mind, he did not consider the approval,” Ariff told the PAC.
On July 5, the PAC’s report revealed that HRD Corp may have misled its board and the Human Resources Ministry in a bid to push through the Skills Passport project.
The PAC concluded that there were discrepancies over whether the board or ministry had approved the initiatives.
Reference was made to actions by HRD Corp’s CEO to obtain approval from the Human Resources Ministry’s deputy chief secretary (Operations), when there was no reason to do so.
This led PAC to believe that the CEO attempted to give HRD Corp’s board the impression that the ministry had approved the project.
In May last year, problems relating to the Skills Passport made headlines after a letter by the Finance Ministry’s (MoF) representative to HRD Corp’s board Datuk Rosli Yaakub was leaked.
The letter titled “Non-compliance with Procurement Procedures in the Skills Passport Project” was addressed to HRD Corp chairman Datuk R. Rajasekharan and chief executive Datuk Shahul Hameed Dawood.
MoF also mentioned that a company, Neomindz Sdn Bhd, partially owned by an Indian national, was picked to undertake the programme.
Although representations were made that the project would incur no costs to HRD Corp, MoF pointed out that the agreement would see the corporation having to pay Neomindz RM12 for every use of a Skills Passport.
MoF said that given there are 4,429,731 workers, if one individual updates their profile once a year, it would cost HRD Corp RM53.156 million a year.
However, if an individual updates their profile thrice annually, the agency would be set back RM159.47 million a year.
On November 20, 2023, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim cancelled HRD Corp’s Skills Passport initiative. – July 10, 2024