Auditing of S’wak govt agencies ‘superficial’

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On Oct 22, 2012

(Free Malaysia Today) – Some 30% of Sarawak’s annual budget go into a government approved agencies ‘trust fund’, information to which no one has access too.

A Sarawak DAP leader has expressed deep dissatisfaction over the Auditor-General Report on Sarawak’s financial issues, describing it as “superficial”, especially with regard to the auditing of government-owned companies.

State party secretary Chong Chieng Jen said the AG’s report was a piece of “peripheral auditing” focusing on unimportant issues.

“I call the report of peripheral auditing, because it is auditing on less important issues while skirting and skipping key issues of Sarawak’s financial position.

“When we look at the AG report, we all know for a fact that Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) had borrowed a sum of RM15 billion to construct dams and this RM15 billion debt loan is not mentioned in this AG report.

“Why? Because, they call off the balance sheet debt of the government. So the balance sheet of the state government does not contain all these debts.

“If you don’t see all these debts reflected in the report, you see a picture of good management of Sarawak government.

“SEB’s balance sheet debt for instance is not highlighted in the AG report and SEB is wholly owned by the government,” he said.

Chong said that the state annual budget had what is known as a ‘black hole’.

“Under our state budget every year there is one item – government’s contribution towards government approved agencies trust fund – which is a black hole.

“For this fund the government sets aside every year some money. In 2007, RM1 billion was channeled into this trust fund and in year 2008 and 2009 it was RM1.7 billion and RM1.8 billion respectively.

“In 2010 the government allocated RM1 billion while in 2011 the amount was RM1.3 billion, bearing in mind that Sarawak annual budget is around three to four billion ringgit.

“This amount (to the trust fund) represents 30% of the annual budget,” Chong disclosed.

Billions go unaudited

He claimed that until today the Sarawak government has refused to release information or explain in the State Legislative Assembly as to where the money went.

“Is this money going to approved agencies? And what are the agencies that receive this money?

“It was never disclosed. Even the Auditor-General did not dig into it and to tell us who are these agencies. They only say it is the government’s obligation towards the repayment of debts.