KUALA LUMPUR – Former National Film Development Corporation (Finas) chairman and veteran actor Hans Isaac has called on the agency to make the list of its funding recipients available for public viewing.
Weighing in on the RM30 million reportedly swindled by numerous production companies, Isaac said this was not the way he had run the agency during his tenure there.
“When I was the Finas chairman, the corporation’s members and I had resolved that all fund recipients must be listed openly to the general (public),” he said.
Isaac, who served at Finas from April 2019 until May this year, said this in a captioned post on Instagram, which was accompanied by a screengrab of an Astro Awani article on the matter.
He noted that currently, everything in Finas was operating “behind the veil”.
"Integrity was our philosophy. Hope it would continue," he said.
Yesterday, Malaysian Film Producers Association president Panchacharam Nalliah, also known as Pansha, called on Finas to provide the list of all grant and fund recipients to address the issue of alleged misappropriation among players in the film industry.
Bernama reported Pansha as saying that the list could be published in detail on Finas' website, similar to what was done by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation and other government agencies.
He said blacklisting and legal action must be taken against irresponsible production companies that did not deliver on their promises or implement Finas projects despite receiving grants.
Finas has recently called on 44 production companies who received the Digital Content Grant (DKD) to return the funds.
According to Harian Metro on Sunday, prominent director Datuk A. Aida said she agreed with Finas' move to recoup the funds.
The agency recently revealed that the RM30 million DKD funds announced during the 2015 budget was meant to produce nationalistic content – which has failed to be produced until now.
Finas chairman Zakaria Abdul Hamid said the agency was currently in negotiations with all the companies to seek the return of the distributed funds.
Meanwhile, a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission official who declined to be named told The Vibes that the commission had yet to receive a report on the matter.
"We have not received any information on our end," the official said in a brief text message. – The Vibes, November 11, 2020
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