Ipoh Barat MP M. Kula Segaran has slammed the goverment for not taking the Auditor General (AG) report seriously in a case revealing several health offices mishandling of funds meant for food to feed malnourished children.
It was reported that the funds intended to feed the underprivileged children were used instead to buy meals such as nasi lemak, kuih and teh tarik to be served at meetings by Jerantut, Gua Musang and Kota Kinabalu district health offices. According to the report, a total of RM 87 851.38 was swindled by the health offices.
The aforementioned abuse of funds is one of the total of 283 issues related to wastage of funds, poor revenue and asset management, negligence as well as weak planning and monitoring of projects were listed in the 2013 Auditor General report that was tabled in Parliament on Monday.
“Such abuse ought to have been treated as a very serious matter and tough actions ought to have been taken against the errant officers. But it was revealed that an internal investigation committee was set up by the Health Ministry to investigate and the officers involved were reprimanded”
“Reprimand is too light a punishment for such abuse and the Ministry was definitely sending a wrong message to all its officers,” said the MP who added that the abuse was a serious crime which warrants the toughest disciplinary action as well as investigation by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).
Kula Segaran also demanded that the Health Minister S. Subramaniam and the government explain why they have not been tough with many culprits responsible in the abuse and misuse of public funds. He related a study done by Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming last year that estimated government wastage around RM6.5 billion in the 64 cases studied under the 2012 audit report. Dr Ong had also noted that the RM6.5 billion that was wasted by the government was twice the amount of the funds the government could save by reducing the subsidy for petrol prices by 20 cents.
Following that, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim in a written reply to Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung on 31 March revealed that only one retired officer was charged in court, while unspecified disciplinary action would be taken against another two officers, as of November 21, 2013.
“I wish to ask if the government is serious about the Auditor General Reports.The government must know that Malaysians are already fed up with continued abuses and misuses of public funds revealed in the annual Auditor General reports,” said Kula Segaran. -The Rocket
