Najib: Audit firm watching mega projects MRT, RAPID to prevent ‘financial controversies’

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Putrajaya has involved the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) Malaysia to look into the books of big-ticket public projects to improve government transparency and productivity, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

Najib, who is also finance minister, gave an assurance that his administration takes audit findings and recommendations “very seriously”.

“SAI Malaysia’s participation, alongside the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, will assure the public that these projects, particularly the three projects that I mentioned must be implemented on time, on budget and without any financial controversies,” he said in his keynote address at the 13^th assembly and 6^th Symposium of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions at the Royale Chulan  hotel here.

He added that mega projects, especially the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) in the Klang Valley, the High Speed Rail connecting the country’s capital city to Singapore and the Petronas Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Johor must be completed “without any financial controversies”.

The government is still recovering from the Port Klang Free Zone scandal that hit the headlines in 2008, after it was revealed in an audit commissioned by then-Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat that the cost had ballooned to more than 10 times its original budget.

It originally was supposed to have cost RM1.1 billion but this later grew to RM4.6 billion in 2007, before an audit by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers commissioned by Ong in 2008 showed that the total cost including interest payments was projected to hit RM12.5 billion.

Six years later, the cost for another mega project, budget-carrier airport klia2 also ballooned to RM4 billion from RM1.7 billion by its May 2014 opening date.

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has called for Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang to carry out an audit of the klia2 project — including its planning, design and construction — and its operator Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad.

Ambrin however said he has to seek government approval to audit klia2 operator MAHB on the delayed completion of the airport at the inflated price tag.

Today, Najib said his government is open to suggestions from its auditors as they have strengthened governance and integrity in the public service, “stepping outside their traditional remit”.

“We also take seriously our responsibilities to act on findings presented to us, to take corrective and even punitive actions when necessary so that shortcomings are addressed promptly and without prejudice,” he said.