KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Late claims by some parliamentarians dating back to 2015 were the cause of delays in paying allowances to some MPs for claims made late last year, Parliament said today.

In a statement, the Parliament’s corporate communication department said that there have been delays in paying out claims and allowances for MPs worth RM1.2 million dating to November and December last year.

This is due to Parliament having to pay out late claims and allowances worth RM1.33 million by some MPs dating back to 2015 and 2016, for which it had to use the current annual budget.

"To avoid such issues from happening, Parliament every year issues a letter telling MPs to submit claims in the same calendar year, but this recommendation has not been heeded,” it said.

It said that Parliament has already commenced direct payments for hotels and flights to remove the need for MPs to make advance payments for such transactions.

"If MPs give good cooperation to ensure annual allocation is used accurately, this issue would not arise,” it said.

It said that the issue of delayed payments was not due to lack of funds from Putrajaya or due to Parliament funds being used for other purposes.