KUALA LUMPUR: More than RM600mil in losses of public funds were reported from 16 performance audits conducted on 14 ministries involving RM208.882bil, reveals the Auditor-General's Report 2022.
According to the report released on Wednesday (Nov 22), 13 performance audits amounting to RM207.352bil were in the activities or programmes category, one amounting to RM316mil in the projects category, and two audit activities amounting to RM1.214bil involving ICT systems.
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Of the 16 performance audits, three each were on the Rural and Regional Development and Home Ministries, and two were conducted on the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry.
One audit each was conducted on the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry; Works Ministry; Local Government Development Ministry; Transport Ministry; Health Ministry; Plantations and Commodities Ministry; Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry; Education Ministry; Finance Ministry; Youth and Sports Ministry; and Human Resources Ministry.
The report showed 11 cases failed to meet the objectives of the project or programme while the performance level of three could not be ascertained.
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Only two of the 16 cases met their objectives.
There were six cases which resulted in losses totalling RM681.71mil.
This involved the Padi Planting Programme, management of the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) real estate development, firearms management and surveillance programme, conservation of marine protected areas programme, a programme to encourage investments into the manufacturing sector and the Safe City Programme.
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There are three cases involving wastage of public funds totalling RM21.35mil which included the Integrated Foreign Workers Management system (ePPAx) and the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), as well as the programme to empower the capacity, capabilities and competitiveness of the construction industry.
The Audit Department issued 55 recommendations to the audited entities.
Among them were: to carry out thorough research on project proposals before approval; to step up surveillance to ensure the projects go on as scheduled; and for department heads to outline the criteria and mechanisms to evaluate a project’s efficacy at every stage of implementation.
