KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 22): A total of RM681.71 million in public funds were identified as losses in six programmes involving the activities of federal government ministries and departments, as well as federal statutory bodies, as reported by the Auditor General’s Report 2022 (AG’s Report 2022).

Leading the losses were the paddy planting management programme, accounting for RM660.14 million, followed by Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) property development management at RM14.33 million, the management and regulation of firearms of the departments and agencies under the Home Ministry at RM6.34 million, the management of the marine protected area conservation programme at RM0.49 million, the investment promotion programme for the manufacturing sector at RM0.29 million, and the management of the safe city programme at RM0.12 million.

Auditor General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi explained that these losses included the granting of exemptions from fines imposed on delays in the supply and delivery of fertilisers, the distribution of sub-optimal subsidies and incentives to rice paddies, failure to collect land lease revenue, and procurement in lieu of disposing of firearms that were not fully supplied.

The report also uncovered three cases of waste totaling RM21.35 million, involving the foreign workers integrated management system (ePPAx) and foreign workers centralised management system (FWCMS), management of the marine protected area conservation programme, and the programme to strengthen the capacity, ability and competitiveness of the construction industry.

Some of the highlighted cases involved the suboptimal use of the ePPAx system, where 11 of the 14 system modules were not utilised in the foreign worker management process.

The forward base project completed in 2020 could not be used, and the training equipment (ACMV Industrial) received in 2018 had not been utilised, as stated in the report.

Additionally, two cases of irregular payments worth RM1.52 million were identified, involving the management of the elite sports podium programme and the management of the capacity, ability and competitiveness of the construction industry programme, resulting in expenses outside the scope of programme approval and sponsorships made to participants who did not meet the requirements.

For the AG’s Report 2022, a total of 16 performance audits worth RM208.882 billion were conducted in 14 ministries. As a result of the audits, the National Audit Department has submitted 55 recommendations to be implemented by the relevant ministries, departments, or agencies.