KUALA LUMPUR – No officers linked to the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) have been suspended following the release of the Auditor-General’s Report 2/2024 and the findings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlighting issues with the government-linked entity.
Confirming the matter above, Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said such suspensions are unnecessary as concerns raised in the reports are now being reviewed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“Temporary suspensions of officers (are for when) there is an internal inquiry. Since this is an investigation by the MACC, there is no need for any officer to be prevented from carrying out his duties or temporarily suspended,” Khairul briefly told a press conference at the ministry in Putrajaya today.
Earlier, he and HRD Corp chief executive officer Datuk Shahul Dawood submitted a report to the graft busters at its headquarters in Putrajaya over issues highlighted in the auditor-general and PAC reports, which were tabled in Parliament yesterday.
In the report handed over to the graft busters, Khairul said the submission is in line with the auditor-general’s recommendation for the ministry to take the audit findings to the relevant enforcement agencies.
The report, he said, contained issues raised by the auditor-general, along with feedback from the ministry and HRD Corp.
The auditor-general’s report recommended that the ministry take the appropriate action against HRD Corp management by referring to enforcement agencies.
This came after the report highlighted several discrepancies, including how the corporation had amended its key performance indicator goals for 2020-2023 without the approval of its board of directors.
The actions and decisions by HRD Corp’s management, the audit report said, did not comply with procedures and failed to protect the interests necessary to achieve the corporation’s objectives.
Khairul added that it would be “inappropriate” for him to take questions from the media during the press conference seeing that MACC gave assurances that a fair and professional investigation would be carried out.
“It might be unsuitable for me to answer any questions (as) a report to the enforcement agency has been made…investigations could be affected and jeopardised if I were to answer any questions,” he said.
Khairul did not take other questions from the media after confirming that no officers have been suspended.
This morning, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said he had instructed Khairul and Shahul to report to the MACC findings by the auditor-general and Parliament’s PAC.
The separate investigations were carried out on HRD Corp’s operations from 2019 to 2023.
The PAC report wrote that HRD Corp’s management was found to have practised poor governance while undertaking suspicious procurement methods for real estate which could have caused the corporation to suffer losses.
HRD Corp used a total of RM3.77 billion in levies collected from employers for training development programmes to make investments worth RM3.84 billion at market value as of March 2024, the report said.
Besides the corporation failing to report its investment activities to its board of directors, its investment panel also did not include a representative from Bank Negara Malaysia since 2017 – a violation of the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Bhd Act 2001. – July 5, 2024