KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — The Malaysian government was able to recover RM159 million because of the National Audit Department’s (NAD) efforts in following up on issues detected in audits of government entities, Auditor General (A-G) Datuk Seri Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi said yesterday.
Wan Suraya credited this success to the Malaysian government’s institutional reforms to boost the Auditor General’s audit powers, as well as the NAD’s introduction of new and innovative oversight mechanisms.
“The impact of all these efforts which I just mentioned — especially from the perspective of the Auditor General’s Dashboard, is that for example, since we established it and really focused on it — from January 2024, until July 31, 2025, follow-up audit actions have successfully led to the collection of RM159.54 million, in terms of collection to the federal coffers, either from the federal as well as state levels.
“This successfully demonstrates how important follow-up audit is in terms of enhancing transparency and driving good governance,” she said in her keynote speech at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’s (ACFE) 2025 Fraud Conference Asia-Pacific here.
In her speech, Wan Suraya listed both the government’s and the NAD’s efforts in preventing leakages of public funds:
1. Amendment of the Audit Act 1957 (which came into force on November 1, 2024) to allow audit on 1,856 government-linked entities
She said this was a key milestone, as the last amendment to the law was made 33 years ago in 1991.
This amendment expanded the Auditor General’s audit powers to cover more bodies, including companies which receive financial guarantees from either the federal government or state government.
“Because of that, we are now in the process of auditing 1,856 government-linked companies across the country, which is a landmark decision, and it will all be audited in one book, so there’s no pick and choose, cherry-picking or waiting the turn,” she said, noting that the NAD is using the latest technology and digitalisation to achieve this.
Previously, the NAD could only audit 925 companies based on an 2022 gazette, but it can now audit 1,856 entities based on a November 2024 gazette.
“The NAD is committed to ensuring that all these entities, including government companies, will be audited annually,” she said, noting that the NAD has already completed some of these audits and is already issuing audit reports to these entities.
2. A new “Follow the Public Money” audit approach
NAD has audit powers to open any doors wherever the public money goes, to ensure that all allocations from the national budget is used strictly for its intended purpose.
3. AG now has powers to make recommendations to address serious irregularities found during audits
The government has established the Serious Irregularities Committee, which A-G Wan Suraya currently co-chairs with the Treasury’s secretary-general, to identify the most effective solutions.
The committee has senior representatives from the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the police, and the Public Service Department.
“So debunking the notion that no action will be taken or has been taken against any findings of the audit report. I can ensure that is not so,” she said.
“In fact, two days ago, I co-chaired the meeting where we reviewed again some of the findings of the audit report, so nothing is left unattended.”
4. e-SelfAudit system (real-time auditing of government companies to provide immediate findings and detect irregularities in real-time)
5. Auditor General’s Dashboard (real-time online platform to monitor progress of ministries and states in addressing irregularities found in audits)
Following the amended Audit Act’s Section 9A(1), she said the A-G now actively follows up on audit issues until corrective actions are taken.
“Thus as I’ve said, debunking the perception that issues raised in the A-G’s report are left unresolved or unattended.”
Under Section 9A(1), the A-G can conduct a “follow-up audit” to review the action taken by entities including the government on issues found in the A-G’s audit report, and the A-G can submit a report on the follow-up audit to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and also give a copy to state rulers or ministers.
6. A-G’s audit findings openly and transparently debated in Parliament, which reinforces accountability and public scrutiny
“You can see that in Malaysia, the work of public auditors does not end once you publish the report. It will continue on until it has been debated and then we will follow it up in the A-G’s Dashboard.”
“So these efforts demonstrate the government’s as well as the NAD’s unwavering commitment to combating fraud, enhancing transparency, and driving good governance in the public sector,” she said.
