Auditor-General uncovers serious irregularities in RM48.87 billion worth of projects
In the Auditor-General's Report released today, a total of five audits involving seven ministries, with an overall cost of RM48.873 billion, were reported.
The scope of the audits covered programmes, activities and projects implemented during the 11th and 12th Malaysia Plan periods.
The report said serious irregularities were identified in three audits.
The first was the compliance audit on oil palm plantation lease procurement by Felcra Berhad where it found governance weaknesses in the procurement of leases for one oil palm plantation in Sandakan, Sabah, and three oil palm plantations in Gua Musang, Kelantan, involving procurements totaling to RM241.76 million from 2022 to 2024.
The second involved procurement of supplies, services and works at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), where serious irregularities and weaknesses were found in the tender procurement process.
Three tenders amounting to RM58.45 million were involved where the Tender Procurement Committee had selected companies that were not recommended by the Technical Evaluation Committee, Financial Evaluation Committee and the Pre-Tender Committee.
The third case related to the management of the army's armoured vehicles where the audit found weaknesses in contract administration and procurement management between 2020 and 2023.
This included penalties amounting to RM162.75 million that were not collected from the company for delays in the supply of Gempita, and penalties of RM1.42 million that were not imposed for delays in maintenance services, repairs and supply of spare parts for armoured vehicles.
The report also found that procurement of maintenance, repair, and spare parts worth RM107.54 million had been split into smaller contracts, which may have been an attempt to bypass procurement thresholds.
Other weaknesses were identified in the implementation of programmes, activities and projects due to lack of monitoring and supervision by relevant parties, as well as weaknesses in policies and procedures.
The audit found issues in the management of price control and the cooking oil subsidy programme.
Introduced in 2007 by the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry under the Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme (COSS), the programme initially had an approved quota of 85,405 metric tonnes per month.
In 2016, its management was taken over by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN), which reduced the quota to 60,000 metric tonnes per month.
Although KPDN made efforts to continue reducing the quota of subsidised cooking oil supply, weaknesses persisted in implementation, monitoring and enforcement.
Among the issues highlighted was the absence of allocation mechanisms to ensure that cooking oil reached targeted groups in need and eligible for assistance.
The report said KPDN's efforts to reduce the quota since 2016 should continue, as this measure could have a positive impact in combating leakages through more targeted distribution, in line with audit recommendations.
Another finding concerned compliance with the Selected Pre-Qualification Open Tender Procurement (Pre-Q), a method introduced by the Finance Ministry for all ministries and agencies through a directive for project procurement in 2023 and 2024.
The audit revealed that the process allowed room for manipulation and lacked transparency in company selection.
Some companies that did not meet the evaluation criteria at the first stage, or were not invited, were still shortlisted and evaluated in the second stage.
In addition, the procurement process took longer than expected and exceeded the stipulated timeframe.
The Auditor-General recommended that the Pre-Q method not be continued, stating that a standard open tender process is more suitable to ensure accountability and transparency.
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