MACC panel lauds A-G's report, slams govt's financial management

The Star
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.

Dubious tailoring and footwear claims made by ministry staff

The Star

PETALING JAYA: Health Ministry staff members filed as much as RM550,000 to RM600,000 in dubious claims on tailoring and footwear, said the Auditor-General’s Report 2012.

Audit checks revealed that 1,014 of the ministry’s staff members in 10 centres responsible for the tailoring claims had produced dubious receipts. It was found that the premises for the tailoring claims did not exist, said the report.

The claims made for long-sleeved shirts and long pants were RM545,105 when the market rates were RM146,340 to 200,780, while claims for overcoats were RM21,700 while the market rates were RM12,465 to RM13,470.

The claims made for baju kurung were RM5,080 while the market rates were RM2,114 to RM3,420.

On footwear, checks on 721 staff members at eight centres revealed the claims did not have telephone number, receipt or bill number, no leather shoes being sold at the shops and the buying price was higher than other shops nearby.

The dubious claims amounted to RM207,293; RM210,002 claims were made while the market rates were RM2,710 to RM3,280.

In a reply on Feb 15, the ministry admitted that there was confusion over the maximum allowance for uniform claims and that adequate checks were not made on the claims.

Following the checks, the centres responsible had been able to recoup RM95,240 for the dubious tailoring claims and RM7,772 for footwear up until the A-G’s report was made.

MCA central committee wants to censure Liow

The Star
FRONT PAGE

Liow faces censure

MCA is set to hold an extraordinary general meeting to censure deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai for refusing to accept the collective decisions of the party. The 20 petitioners from the central committee – more than the one-third required to call for an EGM – said that Liow had provoked infighting after the May 5 general election. > See Page 4 for reports by FOONG PEK YEE, BEH YUEN HUI and LOH FOON FONG

BY FOONG PEK YEE, BEH YUEN HUI AND LOH FOON FONG 

NEWSDESK@THESTAR.COM.MY

  

Email

Facebook 21

KUALA LUMPUR: The undercurrent in the MCA took a dramatic turn with 20 in the central committee petitioning for an extraordinary general meeting to censure party deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

The censure is one of four resolutions in the petition sent to MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha at the party headquarters here yesterday.

The other three resolutions concern the party’s stand on the acceptance of appointments by the Federal Government, state governments and government-linked companies.

According to the petition, the reasons to censure Liow include his refusal to accept and respect the party’s collective decisions, and him failing in his duty as chairman of the general election preparation committee (see table).

It said Liow’s actions had provoked party infighting after the recent general election and tarnished the image of MCA.

The petition was submitted by three requisitionists – Datuk Edward Khoo Keok Hai, Datuk Ei Kim Hock and Datuk Tan Chin Meng. They are among the petitioners from the 43-strong central committee.

The rest are listed as Datuk Seri Tan Chai Ho, Datuk Yeoh Chai Thiam, Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, Datuk Lee Chee Leong, Datuk Heng Seai Kie, Lau Chiek Tuan, Khoo Soo Seang, Datuk Koh Nai Kwong, Loh Seng Kok, Datuk Chong Itt Chew, Dr Por Choo Chor, Datuk Teh Kim Poo, Datuk Koay Kar Huah, Datuk Gan Tian Loo, Tan Ken Ten, Wong Koon Mun and Gan Ping Sieu.

Under the MCA constitution, the petition must have the support of at least one-third of the CC.

There are 43 members in the CC, and they need 15 of them to sign the petition.

(The 43 had included the late Tan Ah Eng. Datuk Liew Yuen Keong was suspended by the party for misconduct during the May 5 general election.)

MCA chief administrative director Lim Chin Hai received the petition on behalf of the secretary-general.

Kong, when contacted in Sitiawan, said he was duty-bound to convene the EGM as long as the requisition was within the party constitution.

He said the central delegates in the divisional elections on Sept 22 would be eligible to vote in the EGM.

Kong said the list of central delegates from the 191 divisions nationwide would be submitted to the party headquarters by Friday.

The EGM will be the ninth of the 64-year-old party.

The high-profile EGMs include the first one that was held in November 1985 to end the party’s more than two-year-long crisis that started in 1983.

The EGM in June 2001 was on the controversial purchase of Nanyang Siang Pauand China Press by MCA’s investment arm Huaren Holdings.

In October 2009, the EGM passed a vote of no confidence in then MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

He, however, remained president because the votes did not amount to the two-thirds required under the constitution to dismiss him.

The EGM on March 28, 2010, to hold fresh party elections saw Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek defeating Tee Keat and Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting to become president.

The last EGM was in March 2011 to amend the party constitution to allow the postponement of party polls to focus on preparations for the general election.

Soi Lek queried on MCA asset management

THE sTAR

BY LOH FOON FONG 

FOONFONG@THESTAR.COM.MY

Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek

KUALA LUMPUR: Some MCA division chairmen want to know how the party’s assets are being managed under the leadership of party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, said Wangsa Maju division chairman Datuk Yew Teong Look.

Yew said he and 22 other division chairmen want Dr Chua to give details on the RM107mil in party assets accumulated since he became party president.

“We are very concerned over the party assets,” Yew told a press conference here yesterday.

In Batu Pahat last Sunday, Dr Chua disclosed party assets grew by RM107mil since he became president in March 2010.

He said the party had appointed tax and financial advisers to re-organise its assets to become more tax efficient.

Dr Chua said the advisers had recommended that Star Publications (M) Bhd shares and Wisma MCA be transferred and registered under the party.

The president was the trustee for Star Publications prior to the transfer.

The transfer, he explained, had enabled the party to save money because the dividends from Star Publications shares and rental from Wisma MCA would be tax free since MCA was a political party and entitled to tax exemption.

Dr Chua said the party saved RM700,000 in tax yearly from Wisma MCA’s rental income, while MCA’s stake in Star Publications had gone up from 41% to 42.4% in the last three years.

He said the party also bought Menara Multi Purpose and registered it under the party, and its rental income was also tax free.

Dr Chua said the party could only sell its assets if it obtained approval from two-thirds of the central committee.

Fomca: Food prices up by a fair bit

BY LOH FOON FONG 

FOONFONG@THESTAR.COM.MY

Extra care: Volunteers from the Civil Defence Department showing how a person with spinal injury is rescued. The demonstration was held during the 2013 Consumerism Month celebration at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi.

BANGI: Food prices have increased by “a fair bit” following the hike of diesel and RON95 petrol prices, a survey by the Federation of Malaysian Consumers’ Association (Fomca) showed.

For instance, the price of prepared wantan mee had gone up by 50 sen to 60 sen, said Fomca president Datuk Marimuthu Nadason.

He added, however, that the fuel price hike had not led to any increase in controlled-price items.

“Our initial findings showed the rise in food prices is hefty.

“The percentage of the increase in prepared food prices is more than the percentage of the increase in diesel and petrol,” he told reporters at the presentation of prizes of the 2013 Consumerism Contest in conjunction with the 2013 National Consumer Month yesterday.

Marimuthu said Fomca was still compiling data on the survey and would reveal more details next week.

The Government recently announced a 20sen reduction in the subsidy for diesel and RON95 petrol per litre, bringing the consumer price of diesel to RM2 and RON95 petrol to RM2.10 per litre since early this month.

“Eatery outlets need not increase the prices of prepared food as they are already making a profit,” said Marimuthu, adding that the (fuel price) increase only translated to a negligible additional RM5.40 of petrol used per week.

“There is no reason for any increase because they (food outlet operators) can afford to absorb the cost.

“They are taking advantage of the fuel hike,” he said.

Ministry: Little to show BPA is safe

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG 

foonfong@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: There is not enough scientific evidence to prove that Bisphenol A (BPA) is safe for vulnerable groups and this was the reason why Malaysia banned the use of the compound in feeding bottles, the Health Ministry says.

BPA is a compound that has been present in many hard plastic bottles and metal-based food and beverage cans since the 1960s.

According to health director-general, Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the decision, implemented on March 1 last year, was done as a precautionary measure, in line with actions taken by other countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union.

He said this in response to a letter to The Star from the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association stating that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had delisted, but not banned baby bottles and infant feeding cups from their regulation in July last year because this range of products (containing BPA) are already discontinued.

Standardised toxicity tests have thus far supported the safety of current low levels of human exposure to BPA. However, following more recent studies using novel approaches to detect the subtler effects of exposure, the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health and FDA have some concerns about the potential effects of BPA on foetuses, infants and young children.

FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, together with the National Toxicology Programme, is now carrying out detailed studies to clarify key uncertainties about the risks of BPA. In the interim, FDA agrees with reasonable steps to reduce exposure to BPA such as the industry’s decision to stop producing BPA-containing baby bottles.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry had monitored the levels of BPA and other related substances in plastic food containers and found that the migration of BPA and other chemicals to food was relatively low, and did not pose a risk to health.

The Food Regulations 1985 prohibits the use of harmful packages in contact with food, with Regulation 27A prohibiting the use of feeding bottles containing BPA.

“It is the responsibility of the food manufacturers to ensure that packages used for food comply with the regulations,” said Dr Noor Hisham, who added that the ministry would continue to monitor plastic food containers in the market.

More than two-thirds of end-stage kidney failure can be avoided

The Star

Many new kidney patients are also diabetic

BY LOH FOON FONG 

FOONFONG@THESTAR.COM.MY

PETALING JAYA: Almost 60% of over 5,800 new kidney patients who require dialysis or kidney transplants last year have diabetes.

The 20th Malaysian Dialysis and Transplant Registry 2012 said 11% suffered from hypertension, which is another non-communicable disease (NCD).

It said all the 5,829 new patients were diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure (ESRF) and more than three-quarters of the cases were lifestyle-related, which could be avoided or delayed if the patients had adopted healthier habits.

Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the percentage of diabetic cases rose from 20% in 1993 to 26% in 2003 before reaching a high of 58% last year.

“The rise is not only notable and serious but should cause an alarm,” he told The Star via e-mail.

Dr Noor Hisham said there could be cases of undiagnosed or untreated hypertension, which could have contributed to chronic kidney disease among the 25% of “unknown causes” of ESRF.

“Malaysia continues to be among the highest in the world in the percentage of patients with diabetes among dialysis patients.

“The costly socio-economic and challenging clinical factors, imposed by the needs of ESRF patients with diabetes, would force the health system to find practical ways to reduce the scourge,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said these cases put a strain on the health budget as well as on the need for highly-trained nurses, technicians and kidney specialists to manage them.

National Kidney Foundation chairman Datuk Dr Zaki Morad Mohd Zaher said NCDs had become a significant cause of ESRF in the last 15 years.

“It takes 20 years for diabetes to destroy the kidneys. There is ample time for efforts to be taken to stop or delay the progression,” he said.