The 2013 Auditor-General’s Report presented in Parliament yesterday is set to be a cause of painful scrutiny for nine ministries and five government departments, as the Public Accounts Committee is planning to haul them all up to answer questions on discrepancies in their spending.
PAC chair Nur Jazlan Mohamed namechecked the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Communication and Multimedia, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health as needing to clarify why they spent exorbitant amounts of money for programmes and projects that didn’t pan out.
Also due to be called up by the committee will be the Department of Veteran Affairs (under the Ministry of Defence), the Accountant General’s Department (Ministry of Finance), the Royal Malaysian Police Force (Home Ministry), MARA (Ministry of Rural and Regional Development), and the Department of Environment (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment).
Bernama quoted Nur Jazlan as saying, “For example, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development need to explain a few things on its 1Azam programme such as selection of participants and the provisions that were given.”
Nur Jazlan himself expressed surprise at the high number of ministries and departments needing to be called up for review following the latest Auditor-General’s Report, marking an increase from previous follow-ups to reports in the past.
Yesterday, The Malaysian Insider reported that the Department of Veteran Affairs had mistakenly paid out nearly RM12 million in pensions to military personnel who were already dead, with only RM1.69 million having been successfully recovered from that amount.
The AG’s Report also highlighted discrepancies in the management of police patrol vehicles, rice paddy subsidies, and provisions handed out in the course of the 1Azam social programme.
The PAC will begin its run of meetings with the ministries and departments in January, with the findings due to be tabled in Parliament in March.
