KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 - Civil society members should be given a spot on board the anti-graft investigation teams tasked to probe findings in the Auditor-General’s 2012 report, Islamist NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) suggested today.

ISMA president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman said the results of every probe should also be publicised for the sake of check and balance, adding that this system would help ensure that every investigation is clean and above board.

He expressed disappointment at the report’s findings, and said the government should be more firm in it fight against corruption by acting quickly and taking immediate remedial steps to curb the problem.

“We hear the same report every year. Leakages, wastage and money spent that is not reasonable with the actual price of the goods or a service. This is a disappointment to us, “he said in a statement here.

Abdullah said to make sure the problem of wastage does not repeat every year, every federal audit should also include details on developments on the findings of the previous year’s audit.

He also suggested that Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) be given wider powers and be allowed to take action against all parties found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Every audit unit in each government agency should also be strengthened, he said, by ensuring that their work is free from management influence.

“Finally, ISMA would like to request that Islamic education be given greater focus in the civil service and among the public to create employees who are cleaner and more trustworthy,” he added.

In a repeat of past criticisms, the A-G Report 2012 highlighted numerous financial discrepancies in almost all the key government agencies, with a few found to have flopped in projects worth billions of ringgit.

Among others, the report had revealed that the police had lost assets worth RM1.33 million in the past three years, including 156 units of handcuffs, 44 units of firearms, 29 vehicles, 26 walkie-talkies, 22 radios, six cameras, four computers, one cellphone, and 21 unspecified items.

The report said the police’s management of missing assets was unsatisfactory, noting the late discovery of missing assets, the delay in reporting losses to the department head and to the police, the department head’s delay in preparing an initial report on the missing assets, and the delay in action following a report on missing assets.

Among the other irregularities that stood out were the RM11.6 million in excessive and frivolous payments made to Telekom Malaysia Berhad in developing the Malaysia Emergency Response System (MERS) 999, and poor security at schools despite over RM2 billion spent by the Education Ministry to hire private security contractors.

The report also highlighted poor contract and procurement management in government projects, an issue also raised by the PAC members who were briefed about the matter the day the national audit report was released.