KUALA LUMPUR – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has instructed the Human Resources Ministry to present independent audit findings on the embattled Human Resources Development Corp (HRD Corp).
PAC chair Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the parliamentary bi-partisan committee would review the audit findings when the ministry and HRD Corp representatives are summoned for a follow-up proceeding in September.
“PAC was informed that the Human Resources Ministry will appoint an independent audit firm on July 31 to carry out an audit of HRD Corp,” the Bersatu lawmaker said in a statement today.
She also commended minister Steven Sim’s proactive initiative in appointing the third-party auditor, asserting that the move proved his commitment to not conceal the truth.
“Although the matters detailed in the PAC and Auditor-General’s (A-G) Report were not during (Sim’s) tenure as the minister, his willingness to appoint an independent audit firm to conduct an audit based on the reports should be an example for other cabinet ministers.”
The audit is expected to be carried out on HRD Corp’s operations from 2019 to 2023.
Yesterday, HRD Corp’s former chief operations officer, Datuk Ariff Farhan Doss, cautioned that the independence of the appointed auditor would be disputed if it was made to report to the ministry instead of the PAC or Audit Department.
This, Ariff said, was because ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud had “vested interests” as he is also an HRD Corp board member.
Khairul also chairs a special task force formed by the ministry to facilitate ongoing investigations, including probes by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), as well as to study the A-G and PAC reports on discrepancies in HRD Corp.
Ariff’s termination from HRD Corp, which came into effect in May, is said to have been motivated by, among others, his move to speak out against HRD Corp to the PAC, the Audit Department and the MACC.
On Tuesday, the nation’s top graft busters said their probe into HRD Corp would be focused on elements of alleged corruption, power abuse and fund misappropriation.
The criminal investigation follows the anti-graft agency’s visit to the corporation’s office in Jalan Beringin to obtain documents related to its probe on issues highlighted in the A-G report.
The audit report recommended that the ministry take appropriate action against HRD Corp’s management by referring them to enforcement agencies.
The audit report also highlighted several concerns, including how the corporation had amended its key performance indicator goals for 2020-2023 without board approval.
The actions and decisions by HRD Corp’s management, the audit report said, did not comply with procedures and failed to protect the interests necessary to achieve the corporation’s objectives.
Similarly, the PAC’s three-volume report on the corporation found, among others, that HRD Corp’s management practised poor governance while undertaking suspicious procurement methods for real estate, causing the corporation to suffer losses. – July 11, 2024