KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The government will take firm action against civil servants who abused their power or whose mismanagement resulted in financial losses as revealed in the 2012 Auditor-General's Report.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, said generally three types of actions could be taken by either by the government or private sector every time the audit report was released to ensure the continuance of good management of assets and finance.

“The most serious offence where the government can take sterner action against the civil servants is when their abuse of power or non-compliance with the processes or procedures resulted in the government suffering losses,” he told reporters at the World Capital Markets Symposium here today.

Earlier, at a panel session, Abdul Wahid said the government could correct the weak management and procedures by training the concerned officers so that they could understand the departments' processes and procedures.          

Secondly, he said, for offences that did not resulted in financial losses, disciplinary action would be taken against the officers concerned after undertaking an inquiry. 

However, for offences involving monetary losses, serious action could be taken, depending on the results of the investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“Conceptually, the government can adopt what is implemented by the private sector. For serious offences, a domestic inquiry is held to ascertain the seriousness of the offences and an appropriate punishment is dished out accordingly.

“So, it is up to the Chief Secretary to the Government to look at how it can be implemented,” he said.   

Abdul Wahid said with the government's decision to spend wisely in the face of the challenges ahead, it was also necessary for it to ensure that all its spending was used responsibly.          

A special committee to study and examine the AG's 2012 report has been set up, chaired by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa with Head of the Public Services Department, Attorney General, MACC officers, and representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Royal Malaysian Police as members.         

The committee is expected to take further action, including against civil servants found to have engaged in fraud and misconduct.

Currently, MACC is investigating 15 cases following the findings in the AG's 2012 report. — Bernama