Bouquets and brickbats for financial irregularities task force

Free Malaysia Today

a day ago

Edmund Terence Gomez (left) believes it can help to curb corruption in government-linked companies (GLCs), but social activist Johan Ariffin Samad (right)sees it as just another layer of bureaucracy.
PETALING JAYA : The decision to set up a special task force to address financial irregularities in the government has drawn both praise and criticism.
Anti-corruption advocate Edmund Terence Gomez believes it can help to curb corruption in government-linked companies (GLCs), but social activist Johan Ariffin Samad sees it as just another layer of bureaucracy in an already-established system of rules and regulations.
Gomez, a professor emeritus at Universiti Malaya, noted that some GLCs had previously been embroiled in financial scandals.
'The task force will have a major role to play if it is to undertake an in-depth review of such irregularities,' he told FMT.
'This is because some institutions within the GLC ecosystem, which includes government-linked investment companies (GLICs), statutory bodies as well as listed and unlisted companies, have also been implicated in financial scandals,' he said.
For a start, he said, the task force could oversee initiatives such as GEAR-uP, the plan that will see six GLICs invest RM120 billion in 'high growth, high value' industries over five years to stimulate domestic economic growth.
'Given how GLIC funds have allegedly been abused, it is worrying that such a huge sum of public funds will be placed in these institutions for domestic investment,' he added.
On June 3, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government would be setting up a special task force to address financial irregularities, saying that this was part of efforts to strengthen the role of the National Audit Department.
The initiative will be realised through an amendment to the Audit Act 1957.
Anwar said the new task force would ensure that follow-up actions are more holistic, targeted and have high impact. This, he said, was in keeping with the principles of accountability, transparency, and integrity.
Last month, auditor-general Wan Suraya Wan Radzi said the amendments to the Audit Act, which came into force last year, empower the department to conduct audits on 1,856 GLCs.
She was quoted as saying the amendment expands the department's scope, thereby strengthening the government's oversight of governance and financial management within GLCs.
The opposing view
Johan, a member of the G25 group of prominent former civil servants, argued that a system to deal with financial irregularities is already in place.
'You already have the audit department, and you have the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Where does this task force fit in?
'Basically, the auditor exposes the weakness in the system, and MACC is supposed to catch the culprits who broke the system or stole something from the system,' he told FMT.
'To me, it's just a waste of time. You're just creating another (layer to the) bureaucratic system,' he added.
Johan, who is commonly known as Joe Samad, said the Audit-General's Reports, which are published three times a year, should be tabled for debate in Parliament.
'Then it is the task of the Public Accounts Committee to ensure that (any irregularity) is dealt with,' he added.