Posted on by Kit

Auditor-General’s Reports – ACA DG admits past impotence but will it be different this time?

I thank the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Director-General Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan for inadvertently confirming what I had said in Parliament during the 2008 Budget debate on Tuesday — that the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report had been completed on 28th June 2007 and would have been submitted to the government shortly after.

I posed these questions in Parliament:

“Why are Cabinet Ministers only beginning to wake up now to the gross mismanagement, waste and abuse of public funds more than two months of the completion of the Auditor-General’s Report?

“Would the Ministers reacted to these gross mismanagement of public funds if no publicity had been given to the Auditor-General’s Report?

“Were all the Ministers aware of and had approved the explanations which the various government departments had given, some most ridiculous and most unacceptable, to the strictures of the Auditor-General’s Report and which had been tabled in the House?

“Is every Minister prepared to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to personally assume responsibility for the mismanagement of public funds highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report?”

When the Auditor-General’s Report is dated June 28, 2007, it would mean that it had been submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong under Article 107 of the Constitution, with copies available to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and relevant heads of Ministries and departments in a matter of days.

This had been confirmed by the ACA director-general in the New Straits Times report “ACA probe into audit cases ‘started earlier'” where Ahmad Said admitted that the ACA had begun investigations into the Auditor-General’s 2006 Report “long before it was tabled in Parliament” on September 7.

He said the ACA had received copies of the report from the Auditor-General “sometime ago”.

He said: “We are investigating. You will have the result soon. Most of the things highlighted are already being investigated”.

The NST report continued:

Although Ahmad Said did not give any details of the investigation, it is widely believed the ACA is looking at several cases highlighted by the media.

Among the prominent ones are:

  • How the Youth and Sports Ministry paid RM8.39 million more than the market price for 13 items for its youth institute’s programmes.

    Among these were RM224 for a set of four screwdrivers costing RM32 in the market; RM5.72 million for two crane towers against the market price of RM2.98 million; technical books consisting of 10 titles priced at RM10,700; and a 3.1 megapixel digital camera that was bought for RM8,254;

  • The way the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has been dishing out funds to non-governmental organisations which do not qualify for them; and,
  • How two Social Welfare Department district offices in Raub and Bentong under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry were found to have distributed RM113,035 aid to 36 people who had died.

If the NST report is reliable, it would mean that there are financial improprieties raised in the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report which are out-of-bounds for the ACA, such as:

  • National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) paying RM5.59 million in advance to 4,183 students who did not apply for a loan; and
  • Escalation of costs because of mismanagement and delays in the construction of six high-tech offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) by a whopping RM1.4 billion.

Why is this so?

Two days ago, I had challenged the ACA to prove that it is not a “toothless tiger” and disclose how many persons had been arrested and prosecuted for corruption and criminal breach of trust from previous Auditor-Generals Reports.

The silence of the ACA Director-General to this challenge has come as no surprise, for the ACA has nothing to show whatsoever in follow-up actions on the past Auditor-General’s Reports whether for federal or state governments resulting in prosecution of public servants who had been corrupt or committed criminal of trust in mismanaging millions or tens of millions of ringgit of public funds.

Ambrin made a very revealing comment about ACA producing a blank report card during his Q & A in the New Sunday Times report “Constant monitoring will bring results” of September 2, 2007, viz:

Q: After the audit exercise for 2005, you said the Anti-Corruption Agency would be going after civil servants who swindled or mismanaged public funds. Are you satisfied with the action taken?

A: Our reports are available to the ACA, which is responsible for investigating wrongdoings. If there is such evidence, it is up to them to take action.

We just highlight the discrepancies, the rest is up to the relevant agencies and bodies to follow-up.

Ahmad Said’s cryptic remarks yesterday is tantamount to a public confession of ACA impotence and failure to act on past Auditor-General Reports. But how different will it be for the ACA this time with regard to the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report when ACA had adequate and ample time with at least two months’ headstart to complete investigations already?

Or will the continued impotence of the ACA on the 2006 Auditor-General’s Reports be just further proof of the need for the ACA to be taken out of the Prime Minister’s Department to become completely independent body, answerable only to Parliament?

22 Replies to “Auditor-General’s Reports – ACA DG admits past impotence but will it be different this time?”

  1. Uncle Lim

    How shocking!
    What on earth has become of my country?

    I’m beginning to sense how little the ruling coalition has taken your “views” all these years. They have put all their “YES” men on every key position. All the “NO” guys were “transferred out”. You must be frustrated!

    I can only say that unless & until we see the coming together of another coalition of parties strong enough to win over the majority votes from the people, a lot more shocking news & frustration are waiting in front.

  2. A strong alternative coalition will have to include PAS. In the eyes of most non-Muslim, PAS is not a moderate Islamic party.

    Non-Muslim just feel more comfortable with UMNO although it is a racist party.

    The conclusion is: Malaysia’s future is hopeless.

  3. The screw drivers are special screw drivers which can be used to screw up the rakyat. So does that justify the price of RM224?
    So you can see how the rakyat are being screwed up after dutifully paying their taxes. Next they will make us see stars by the star rating as it will be of no consequences if the Star government officials, ministers and PM included has no commitment and genuine desire to combat the malice that has been bogging us since the dawn of TDM. Worst still many are in the same game.
    This knee jerk reaction by the government is only to hoodwink or to appease the rakyat temporary. It will take an extremely naive person to believe them. If they are genuinely sincere the first thing they must do is to make the ACA independent. Answerable to the PM is a farce because if the PM is corrupt himself or a weak leader, what can we expect out of the ACA. For the fact that they condone to hide and seek tenders and purchases and the adamant refusal to change method of promotion of judges and many others glaring man made opportunities for them to be corrupt are intact though there are thousand of appeals and complaints. Do not be deceived by the stars as many of the “star generals” are the biggest star in corruption and obviously they are not going to hang themselves by the stars. They only pretend that they do not like the word “corruption” but loves committing it. In spite of some ho hah by the government, chances are at the end of the day we will keep on seeing stars and will keep on seeing for many more years to come. We are at a difficult cross road, where we can see the satan but we just cannot get rid of it.

    The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) paying RM5.59 million in advance to 4,183 students who did not apply for a loan. I am of the opinion that there are many phantom loan takers and many happenings as reported is leading to that. Would the government want to make a thorough investigation on this knowing pretty well that many “Star Generals” will be the main stars.

    We are definitely not going to get any changes for the better, but brace you for the worst. Our small drop of hope is the Peoples’ Petition (Petisyen Rakyat) to His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong thanks to RPK on behalf of the ten of thousands who had signed for it and I am one of them.

  4. You cannot trust the report 100%….the most you could rely on its completeness, accuracy and fairness is 50% -70%.

    ACA term of reference is narrow and limited and their scope of investigation restricted. They are not independent of the government.

  5. YB Kit asked, “Would the Ministers have reacted to these gross mismanagement of public funds if no publicity had been given to the Auditor-General’s Report?”

    Of course not. So publicity is the key.
    Waterman had asked, “What on earth has become of my country?” but it (wastage/gross mismanagement) has been like that all the while except that during TDM’s administration, it’s all hidden like termites in the woodwork which has not been exposed to light of day (publicity).

    The difference between now and TDM’s time is that corruption, abuse of power, gross financial mismanagement are more readily (on comparative basis) publicised, credit of which must go to (1) a Malaysian public or sections thereof more vigilant of their rights than ever before, (2) the Internet and increasingly (3) even the mainstream government controlled media (competing with alternative media/blogs) which, as in this case of Auditor General’s report of gross mismanagment, the NST itself highlighting it, apparently in line with (4) the PM’s benchmarks against corruption & mismanagment, set…

    It is a priori conceded that setting benchmarks without political will to follow through – ‘cakap tak serupa bikin’ – (empty talk) is not good enough, that is true, but the fact that there are benchmarks firmly set (even at the level of rhetroric only) set in motion, perhaps unintended opportunities for ‘engagement’ with the BN’s bigwigs.

    With high benchmarks set by PM himself, even licensed mainstream media (affiliated to political parties) dare (whether in the interest of nation or journalism or competition with alternative Internet medium or simply to increase readership and make more money) to publicise, criticise and highlight official abuse, mismangament and lache, telling themselves that if there were any backlash from the political masters, they can at least raise the defence of being consistent with and trying to promote the PM’s avowed electoral agenda for reform!

    The setting of benchmarks have two immediate results, one, it opens opportunities of publicity and avenues for public highlighting of corruption/mismanagment, two, it provides opportunities to detractors, opposition and members of public to engage BN’s politicians and demand whether in light of what has been publicised, how do they measure against and have they performed within the benchmarks set or have they any excuse for scandals under their watch etc.

    As politicians they cannot ignore their public image and will have to do or seen to do somthiong something when scandals are publicised.

    That is why publicity is the key to tackle by baby steps the systemic malaise afflicting the country. The main condition is only that people must be prepared to speak up and protest (to engage, so to speak) whenever their rights are trampled upon.

    By virtue of these benchmarks, the onus has increasingly been shifted to politicians to publicly prove their probity and good faith whereas in the past under TDM, probity and good faith were assumed and you were not allowed to question, and mainstream media were silenced.

    Better take advantage of the relatively freerer political climate afforded by Pak Lah. Even ‘cakap tak serupa bikin’ has got its advantages.

  7. “Why are the Cabinet Ministers only begining to wake up now……”, LKS. While most of the times I would say they are asleep, but for this case, they do not sleep. Year after year, after AG’s report, they are busy ‘rectifying’ the wrongs. It’s their duty to protect everyone in their ministries. Remember, small fries will lead to smaller fish,…..to the BIG fish. How to ‘rectify’? I don’t know but they are good at it.

    It would be naive to think that ACA will act without any publicity. Even with BIG PUBLICITY, things always end up some where else when the case cool down or ‘PUBLICITY GROW smaller’.

  8. Lying ministers
    http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/letters.php?itemid=8196
    …the Minister lied. He said that nothing is stopping Lina Joy from changing her religion. She can change her religion anytime she wants to. But she cannot change her name on her identity card. According to Syed Hamid, every Malaysian ‘is born with an identity card’. I thought ICs are issued when you become 12 years old. This is a purely nonsensical, fictitious and lying statement.

    Chinese and Indians can change their names and religions anytime they want. They can move from Hinduism to Christianity to Buddhism to Sikhism to Islam anytime they want. Baljit Singh Joginder can become BJ Dave. Then BJ Dave can become Dato Sultan Chandra Muzaffar Shah or whatever. There are no tribal laws to observe when a Sikh leaves sikhism to become really sick.

  9. the aca dg has declared past impotence but then the situation never gets rectified. the rakyat have identified past and continuing impotence of the whole system that is in place, but then again that never gets rectified too. they vote them in with increased majorities. so really, i guess we are no different from the aca dg, the people in power, the igp , the police etc etc. i guess thats because malaysians dont care about the past…they will fall for the “apparent future” which quickly, almost with lightning speed, fades into an impotent past…and we while away the five years or so in between elections doing what we are doing now….ini tak betul, itu tak betul, menteri ini rasuah, menteri itu lagi banyak rasuah etc etc..and then dawns the moment that can change all of that…that is elections and the opportunity to do something.but what happens? the future suddenly looks bright with the devil we know…and the future looks promising…so we vote them in…and the bright future becomes an impotent past every year in the five year cycle…and the cycle continues. the rocket? still circling outer space and not able to land decisively! and we keep filling up these pages…..

  11. apa nak buat!
    kalau lah si menterinya dah mangkuk, apa tah lagi dengan yang dilantik oleh kerajaan BN UMNO, semuanya jadi cawan!
    kalau yang tidak tahu menahu menjalankan tugas yang diberi, lebih baik undur! nama aja menteri, tapi sepatah haram tak tau macam mana nak melaksanakan tugas mereko.

    aku punya falsampah!

  15. I doubt any of our comments here will change the status quo of the ACA taking actions. Corruption is so institutionalised, it has become the norm and the ACA is part and parcel of this corrupt institution.

    Don’t be misled by the ACA DG’s supposedly candid admission they have looked at the report much earlier. It was merely made to satisfy the public clamour that they are on their toes and taking action. Like all major corruption issues such as these they were sitting on their backsides and will not move until they receive instructions from the Sleepy One. More so when these revelations are so big it can bring down the Govt. All the way from Rip Van Winkle(Sleepy One) down to the entire eunuch Cabinet, the reality was they did not bother with the AG’s report because to them it was just another normal yearly affair where it will blow hot for a while and then die a natural death – no actions taken.

    Now that the shit has hit the ceiling fan, the sandiwara starts. Pak Lah pretends to ask the ACA to investigate. By doing this he scores points from a potential damaging crisis to his administration. He will be seen as Mr Clean and doing something about it when all along he already knew about the shit from the report and was hoping it will disap[pear into thin air as always has happened in the past.

    ACA will sandiwara for six months and you will hear comments like “we are still investigating”, “report has been sent to the Attorney General” and finally, “no evidence of wrongdoing or corruption and case close” – standard operating procedure for a corrupt and HP6 Govt.

  16. In focusing on ACA’s response to Auditor General (AG)’s report, one should not lose focus, at the same time, the wider implications of (1) where and to which ministries the AG’s report trail lead (2) why both AG and ACA seem to be infused with “viagra” (3) mainstream highlighting the AG’s report and (4) the power play and horse trading within UMNO that may result from AG’s report.

  18. Empty your pockets and give to the unfortunate
    http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20070916083411/Article/index_html
    Abdullah called on the people to provide assistance to the victims of Wednesday’s earthquake, which killed 23 people and injured 88 others. He said there were various channels and funds through which Malaysians, who are known for their charity, could help.
    http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20070916083411/Article/index_html

    ….and Malaysians had donated over RM80 million to the National Disaster Relief Fund. But last year the AG revealed that the fund, involving an allocation of RM1.63 billion, was used for unrelated projects such as to renovate the official residence of menteris besar and buying equipment for private television station ntv7.
    http://ktemoc.blogspot.com/2007/09/tsunami-funds-renovated-mbs-residence.html

    So be tricked and empty your pockets and give to the rich and undeserving

  21. “There is no viagra-induced improvement for poor corruption index.” Godfather

    There is the same inverse relationship that you see between the KLSE Index and men’s trousers i.e. share prices go up and pants come down. The relationship here is even stronger and more direct i.e. when corruption index goes up, pants come down.

  22. ACA is in a dilemma of asking:

    Mr.ACA Boss, can I investigate you ?
    Mr.ACA Boss’s boss, can I investigate you ?
    Mr.ACA Boss’s boss’s boss, can I investigate you…… ?
    Mr. PM, can you let me know who to sacriface… ?
    Mr. PM, how much corruption shall be reported…?
    Mr. PM, can long you want me to delay in taking action…?

    If the answer is to be fair and impartial.Bingo!

Leave a Reply