HR Ministry reports HRD Corp irregularities to MACC

THE Human Resources Ministry has reported management irregularities at HRD Corp to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), following the publication of the Auditor-General’s Report 2/2024.

Secretary-general at the ministry, Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud, said the move action aligns with the auditor-general's recommendation to report the findings to the enforcement agencies.

"Earlier today, I went to the MACC office (in Putrajaya) and submitted a report containing the issues raised by the auditor-general, along with feedback from the ministry and HRD Corp, an agency under our ministry mentioned in the Auditor-General's Report."

"The MACC has assured us that it will conduct a thorough and professional investigation into the matter," he told a press conference today.

In the report, Auditor-General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi said HRD Corp had failed an audit because of management irregularities. He had recommended that the ministry report the management of the government entity to the enforcement agencies for action.

The National Audit Department had scrutinised HRD Corp’s operations from 2019 to 2023.

In the report published on Thursday, Auditor-General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi said auditors had found that hundreds of millions of ringgit for training grants, investments, and property purchases were mismanaged,

More than RM50 million in training grants were disbursed to the same person multiple times, she said.

"Overall, the corporate governance of HRD Corp is unsatisfactory. Decisions made by HRD Corp management did not follow procedures and did not protect its interests to achieve its objectives,” she said in the report.

It said the HRD Corp investment panel failed to report substantial investment activities to its board of directors.

The report also revealed that the board did not have a Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) representative, which is a violation of the Human Resources Development Fund Act 2001.

"The HRD Corp investment panel did not report investment activities to the board of directors, with its management justifying that the chairman of the panel is also among the BOD. This has resulted in the BOD being unable to monitor HRD Corp's investment activities as a whole and undermining the BOD's role as the entity responsible for HRD Corp's direction.

"According to the PSMB Act 2001, a representative of BNM must be appointed as one of the members of the panel, but there has been no BNM representative since 2017." – July 5, 2024.