Citizen Nades – Key officials fail the test

(The Sun) – How could one official “beat” the system without the connivance of his colleagues? He could not have prepared the payment vouchers and supporting documents, approved it and presented them for payment.

IT IS no longer a secret. The high-ranking government official arrested last week for alleged involvement in the RM100 million corruption case is from the Youth and Sports Ministry. Some news portals have already named the official.

The photographs of expensive handbags and watches which adorned some newspapers were telling indeed. Let’s not forget the fleet of 12 luxury cars and first-class travel for the family.

The discoveries made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are proof of the many weaknesses in the procurement methods of the government which have been raised in this column on a regular basis.

Years ago, this column highlighted the case of an ex-international who was involved in the supply of equipment to the ministry-run centres. Millions of ringgit worth of sub-standard equipment was supplied, and yet the perpetrator got away scot-free because of “lack of evidence”.

There is no better substitute than an open and transparent procurement system which offers everyone to compete without having to pull strings or bribe any one. The chances of money exchanging hands for the contract may not be eliminated but surely, they will be minimised.

Back to the case of the Sports Ministry and one thing is certain – the internal auditors were sleeping on the job. Did they not track and check the payment vouchers against the goods or services rendered? Did they blindly ignore the shenanigans that were taking place right in front of their eyes and in their own backyard?

Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has suggested that an independent investigative panel be set up to identify weaknesses and upgrade financial procedure in his ministry. But aren’t we closing the door after the horses have bolted?

The malaise in this country is that we tend to set up committees, panels, task forces and even super task forces to “look into the weaknesses and shortcomings”. Whether such groups are allowed to do their job is one matter or whether such announcements are made to pacify critics.

After reports on the Port Klang Free Zone scandal were presented to the prime minister, he set up a super task force headed by the chief secretary to the government. To date, no one knows if the task force did anything as its report has yet to be tabled or made public.

In my private conversations with the MACC officials and like-minded people, we reasoned that the Integrity Pledge signed by several government departments is not worth the paper it is written on. After signing the document, some officials will continue to be up to their dirty tricks. The ministry too signed such a document in May 2014 and the results of the MACC investigation vindicate our stand.

According to the MACC, this Sports Ministry official was part of a syndicate that had been ripping off the ministry since 2010 and it means it started before Khairy’s tenure.

As early as 2009, this newspaper had highlighted the flaws and weak spots in the set-up which prompted former minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaacob to call in the MACC over several issues.

This newspaper quoting sources said MACC had taken several documents from the ministry, including one on the purchase of a scoreboard for the Sukma Games, where the purchase and operations price of RM1 million was apparently inflated to RM11 million.

Other documents taken by the MACC included those on the poorly-received Champions Youth Cup which Malaysia won a bid to stage for three years at RM17 million a year by paying bidding fees to a nearly out-of-business British promoter, as well as the National Sports Council sports development fund which saw its RM500 million cash bank dwindle over the last few years.

In 2007, the Auditor-General’s Report stated that the National Youth Skills Training Institute, which comes under the ministry had paid RM3.06 million more than the market rate when it bought 15 desktop packages, complete with Computer Assisted Design Drafting, for a total of RM4.47 million or RM29,385 a package.

The report said the market rate for a similar package was only RM21,000 for commercial use and RM9,250 for training/educational use. So, the unavoidable question is: Who was held responsible for this fiasco and what action was taken?
We allow issues like these to fester. We allow the wrongdoers opportunities to continue without any deterrent. Naturally, there will be replication and recurrence.

Mr Minister, there is no need for yet another panel. The internal controls and procedures have always been in place. However, when integrity takes a back seat and when there’s neither will nor determination on the part of key officials to follow them, it opens the floodgates for crooks, conmen and thieves to thrive.

There are checks and balances in the system and there is no necessity to re-invent the wheel.

This is happening not only in this ministry but several other government departments and agencies. Some civil servants don’t care two hoots about procedures and make their own rules which benefit them monetarily.

And don’t expect the MACC or the auditor-general to point out all the flaws. What are the internal controls that were supposed to be in place? How could one official “beat” the system without the connivance of his colleagues? He could not have prepared the payment vouchers and supporting documents, approved it and presented them for payment.

As this is being written, we were told that the Malaysian Paralympic Council is seeking funds for its athletes. But almost RM4 million has disappeared from its coffers and no one has been held responsible or accountable for these missing monies.
We have been harping on this issue for ages. We hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1998. While subsequent hosts have already wrapped up and made public their accounts, we have yet to do so. No one knows how much was spent and where the money went. Repeated requests fell on deaf ears.

So, what can any panel do if those responsible have the protection of godfathers and patrons and treat requests for accountability with disdain?

R. Nadeswaran says that there’s no need to set up committees or hire highly-paid consultants to tell us how to “improve”. What we need are people with the highest level of integrity to helm key departments and agencies. Comments: [email protected]