PM committed to addressing issues of waste, leakage in govt spending - Auditor-General

PUTRAJAYA - Malaysia will be able to overcome the issues of waste and leakage in national spending due to the commitment pledged by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the Cabinet take seriously and scrutinise every remark of the Auditor-General’s Report 2021.

Auditor-General Datuk Seri Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid said it was a clear message to every ministry, department and statutory body not to take the audit report lightly.

He said in the audit team’s meeting with Anwar on Jan 17, the Prime Minister stated that he would not block any weaknesses from being reported and even asked the Cabinet to review the report.

"The message from the Prime Minister is really a moral booster for the team to do our level best in serving the people and the country,” he said at the media briefing on the Auditor-General’s Report 2021 Series 2 here today.

On Jan 17, Anwar ordered the Cabinet to take seriously and examine every remark in the Auditor General's Report 2021 about expenditures and leakages that do not meet conditions and regulations.

Meanwhile, Nik Azman said Sabah and Selangor have yet to return the outstanding balance of funds borrowed from the National Trust Fund (KWAN) amounting to RM145.37 million for the procurement of vaccines and the National Covid-19 immunisation Programme (PICK).

He said negotiations were being carried out with the Selangor State Secretary for the purpose of obtaining the balance of the funds before the same negotiations were held with Sabah.

Nik Azman said the funds, the breakdown of which is not disclosed for each state, should be returned to KWAN after the PICK programme ended in October 2021. - BERNAMA