KUALA LUMPUR: More than 11,000 issues raised during audits have been addressed between 2012 and January this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) M. Kulasegaran said 11,594 of the issues have been addressed during this period with a total of 12,393 audits being conducted.
“Follow-ups are also being carried out on 799 matters,” he said during question time in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Feb 24).
As of Feb 24, Kulasegaran said 32 of the matters are being investigated by the police, 138 by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and 116 by the Public Service Department’s investigation committees.
According to him, the Public Service Department has taken disciplinary action against 311 officers as of Jan 14 this year.
“This includes warnings, penalties, postponing wage increments, demotions and relieving them from service.
“Two civil servants have also been penalised by the courts,” he said.
He was responding to a supplementary question by Kesavan Subramaniam (PH-Sungai Siput) who asked about follow-up actions taken by stakeholders to address issues raised during government audits.
On a related manner, Kulasegaran explained that the Auditor-General’s Department determines which entities to audit, based on several criteria.
This includes those who are suspected to have misused public funds, potential harm to public safety, and have a loss of public trust.
“There is also room to debate this, which is the current practice in Parliament,” he said.
On measures taken by the government to ensure more efficient public fund management, Kulasegaran said this includes amendments to the Audit Act, establishing the Auditor-General’s dashboard, debating the Auditor-General’s Report in Parliament, among others.
Last year, the Dewan Rakyat passed the Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024, aimed at giving greater authority to the Auditor-General to enhance governance and accountability in the public sector.
Kulasegaran said the Auditor-General’s dashboard platform also allows real-time monitoring of action taken by related quarters towards follow-up measures proposed in the Auditor-General’s report.
“This allows the raised audit issues to be addressed more promptly and improve public sector governance,” he said.
He said this when responding to questions by Jamaludin Yahya (PN-Pasir Salak).
Jamaludin asked about government measures to ensure public fund allocations through the yearly budget are not misappropriated, referencing previous instances where the Auditor-General’s report highlighted weaknesses in financial management across various government agencies.
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