KUALA LUMPUR: Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will summon several ministries and federal agencies following the tabling of the 2nd Series of the 2014 Auditor-General’s Report yesterday, which revealed numerous cases of wastage and leakages.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the committee will summon representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, the Education Ministry, Customs Department and the Prime Minister’s Department.

“We hope to call them to attend our inquiries in September,” he said after a briefing with the auditor-general yesterday.

The report found that the former Agriculture and Agro-based Industry secretary-general signed a RM268.2 million contract in 2012 with a private firm despite not having the authority to do so. The contract was issued to Sunlight Inno Seafood Sdn Bhd for its investment in a National Key Economic Area (NKEA) project called Replicating Integrated Zone for Aquaculture Model (Izaq).

It found that while Izaq was launched in 2011 with a 2020 deadline to fulfil all its objectives, only 15.8% of its objectives were completed as at December last year.

The auditor-general’s report also found that there were issues of improper payments for the maintenance of ships and boats under the Maritime Enforcement Agency, which comes under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department.

The report also noted shortcomings in the management of an aquaculture programme under the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority, as well as the management of the Seri Malaysia Hotel chain which had improper payment issues.

In addition, the  report found shortcomings in the financial management of several public universities, which are under the Education Ministry.

The PAC will call up several ministries after finding issues with the maintenance budgets of government assets.

“We find that the government buys a lot of assets but does not maintain them properly. By right, there should be more budget allocated for maintenance as the years go by but this was not done, resulting in older assets having to be disposed of,” said Nur Jazlan.

He expressed shock over some of the wastage and leakages highlighted in the latest auditor-general’s report, especially after declaring last year that the PAC was satisfied with the improvements shown by some ministries and departments.

“We feel a bit sad. Governance is always about consistency. But what’s important is we give them the message that we are watching them.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 16, 2015.