Govt to set up special task force to address financial irregularities
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the decision to set up the task force was made during the special Cabinet committee on national governance meeting today. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA : The government will be establishing a special task force to address financial irregularities, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced today.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the decision to set up the task force was made during the special Cabinet committee on national governance meeting today.
'As part of efforts to strengthen the role of the national audit department through amendments to the Audit Act 1957, the meeting agreed to establish a task force to address serious irregularities,' he said in a Facebook post.
During the meeting, he stressed the importance of addressing audit findings related to financial irregularities that could undermine the country's fiscal management.
He said the new task force will ensure that follow-up actions are more holistic, targeted and have high impact, in keeping with the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity.
Last month, Auditor-General Wan Suraya Wan Radzi said the amended Audit Act, which came into force last year, empowers 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 changes include the expansion of the auditor-general's powers to include audits of entities receiving government financial guarantees, by introducing the 'follow the public money' audit approach.
Wan Suraya said, moving forward, all GLCs would be held accountable for any irregularities identified in the auditor-general's report.
She highlighted that the committee responsible for following up on actions taken based on the auditor-general's report had uncovered several instances of leakages in state and federal financial statements, which are now in the process of being recovered.
She added that beyond the recovery of public funds, the audit process aims to determine whether serious irregularities, governance lapses or systemic failures have occurred.
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