KUCHING, Oct 8 — 1Malaysia Foundation trustee Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye today called for action in the public interest against civil servants found to have been responsible for wrongdoings, as revealed in the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, as taxpayers’ money is involved. 

He said that arising from the report, it was obvious that the cardinal principle of integrity and good governance had not been put into effective practice by those departments and agencies involved, including those civil servants responsible for mismanagement which cost the government millions of ringgit.

“Existing internal controls and internal audit systems must be thoroughly reviewed with the aim of plugging the loopholes and strengthening them and, if necessary, the risk management system should also be looked into.

“There is also a need to encourage whistle-blowers’ tips and complaints from honest and dedicated officers who can help to fight wrongdoings in any government department and agency,” he said in a statement here.

Lee said the decision by the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa to set up a special committee to scrutinise the Auditor General’s Report, address the issues concerned and identify all those responsible was a step in the right direction as it was in line with what a responsible and accountable government should do.  

The special committee to be set up must be a high-powered one, comprising competent persons of the highest integrity with the authority to put things right and prevent a recurrence of the issues raised in the report, he said.

“As a matter of fact, what has been disclosed in the report is nothing new. These issues pertaining to mismanagement, leakages, malpractices, wastage, poor monitoring and execution, and lack of integrity seem to be a yearly occurrence, Lee said, adding that it was time that strong and drastic moves were taken to address the issues once and for all to ensure the integrity of the civil service.

He said it was the responsibility of the high-powered committee to identify the various weaknesses and shortcomings and make recommendations to overcome the problems besides ensuring that its recommendations were carried out and not just made for the sake of making them. 

The government had been emphasising to the private sector to practise good corporate governance and, undoubtedly, it had to set the example and take the lead, he said. — Bernama