KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang described Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's recent announcement of the RM10 billion leakage that occurred in the government procurement system as a “wake up call” for the nation to get rid of such practice.
Ambrin told News Straits Times that the actual amount of leakage and corruption in the civil service could be beyond the cited figures.
“(Anwar’s) wake-up call about the leakages and corruption is most timely. Think of the huge losses faced by the government,” he was quoted as saying.
He expressed his disappointment over the lack of importance given to the Auditor-General's (A-G) Report over the years, which he said should be taken seriously.
On Tuesday, Anwar said that leakages could be stopped if corruption is eradicated at all levels, including changing the old way of doing things namely without political interference or the interests of big businessmen in government procurement.
In his two months working as finance minister, Anwar said he had already identified RM3 billion to RM4 billion in expenditures that could be saved.
Ambrin said government officers should stick to the law and ignore political intervention in government procurement which carried a high risk of fraud and corruption.
Ambrin also pointed out that the punitive measures, such as fines, transfers and wage cuts, are no longer realistic as punishment for those who do not respond appropriately to the recommendations in the A-G’s Report.
Ambrin said the current punitive action were not enough to defer offenders as he said the offenders appear oblivious to them despite all the errors identified.
“We are lenient with offenders now, when in fact, we need to be more strict to create the 'fear factor'.
“Perhaps punitive actions, such as fines, salary deductions, and demotions are not in fact punitive enough. So, there is no fear of punishment," he said without elaborating on the hefty punishment.
In 2021, the World Bank estimated that 20 to 30 per cent of the country's budget for public contracts were wasted.
The finding concurred with Ambrin's projection, who said that up to 30 per cent of the country's public projects' value had been lost due to mismanagement and corruption.
Last year, former economic affairs minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said that 178 projects had been classified as “sick” out of 6,755 projects under the Implementation and Coordination Unit.
He told the Dewan Rakyat that 92 of the “sick projects” were “being attended to or under intervention”, with 41 already restored and the rest were work in progress.
A project would be classified as “sick” if it had only achieved 20 per cent of its physical progress at a certain timeline.
The National Audit Department said that in 2020, the government had lost a total of RM620.07 million from non-compliance of federal ministries and departments involving irregular payments, loss of public funds and wastages.
Among the government arms that had been flagged for mismanagement of funds in the A-G Report 2021 (Series 1) were the Transport Ministry (Civil Aviation Authority Malaysia) and the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament Malaysia).
