PUTRAJAYA: Lax conditions set by the government had allowed those applying for funds under PenjanaKerjaya to cheat their way into getting hold of the funds, say anti-graft authorities.
They said some culprits had submitted documents with false information involving workers and training programmes to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to apply for the funds.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission senior director of investigation Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim said probes found that individuals named as employees of companies submitting the claims could not be verified nor could the training programmes, said to be held, be proven.
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He said since July last year, the MACC had carried out “Ops Hire” in collaboration with Socso.
The special operation was to look into claims of leakages and abuse of public funds.
“The focus of our investigations is on companies suspected to have committed forgery of documents and cheating to obtain government funds under the PenjanaKerjaya programme via Socso.
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“Our findings revealed that suspects identified under Ops Hire had taken advantage of the lenient conditions and used false information to apply for the funds,” he said in a statement on Friday (Jan 20).
In 2020, PenjayaKerjaya – a programme under the National Economic Recovery Plan – was launched offering financial incentives of between RM600 and RM1,000 to employers for each employee or apprentice employed for up to six months.
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Hishamuddin said Ops Hire saw 74 individuals arrested and 61 companies investigated.
“It was found that the amount of money involved in this crime amounted to RM87,980,757.29,” he said.
As of Thursday (Jan 19), a total of 27 individuals had been charged in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Melaka over false claims totalling RM4,927,440.00.
Hishamuddin said RM3mil seized from the suspects had been forfeited.
“We are expecting more suspects to be charged once probes are completed,” he added.
