By LOH FOON FONG
foonfong@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: A panel under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has lauded the transparency of the Auditor-General's Report 2012, but was disappointed with the discrepancies in the government and government-linked companies' tender system.
Datuk Johan Jaaffar, the MACC's Consultation and Prevention of Corruption Panel chairman, said the report exposed various weaknesses in the financial management of ministries, agencies, state governments and government-owned companies.
The panel also regarded highly the commitment of Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang in producing the transparent annual report, Johan said on behalf of panel members in a statement Friday.
“The willingness of the government in accepting the report was praise-worthy and showed that the government had no intention whatsoever to keep any part of the report out of public domain, no matter how critical the findings were or that they could result in negative public perception,” he said.
He also said that the panel took cognisance of the various remedial measures taken by the various ministries, agencies and state governments in response to criticisms contained in the previous report.
However, the panel was disappointed with discrepancies in the tender system, supply and procurement as well as the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the ministries, agencies, state governments and government companies concerned, he said.
“We take a serious view of these weaknesses that not only could lead to abuse of power and corruption but undermine the government delivery system,” he said.
Johan said that the panel was deeply concerned with the serious acts of negligence in the system of control and supervision that resulted in dangerous assets such as firearms that went missing.
“What is also obvious is the lack of supervision on suppliers and contractors that resulted in shoddy work performance,” he said.
The panel was also baffled by the fact that despite these weaknesses being highlighted in previous reports, they kept being repeated.
“We therefore urge the Chief Secretary to the Government to form a special committee to act on the 2012 Auditor-General's Report so that appropriate immediate action could be taken to address these weaknesses,” he said.
The panel also calls on the Chief Secretary to table proposals on improvements to prevent such weaknesses from recurring.
The panel also calls on state governments and government companies to take immediate action to rectify such weaknesses.
“We are also in support of the proposal for a more frequent A-G's Report such as thrice annually to be issued to enable more effective monitoring and supervision and for faster remedial measures to tackle these weaknesses,” said Johan.
The panel supports whatever steps to be taken for further improvements in the civil service so as to plug loopholes to prevent corruption and abuse of power.
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