PJ City Council's accounts are in order

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usinessmen will be more professional. “And this is how Malaysia canbecome more competitive,” he told reporters after chairing the meeting.He added that the PAC would ask the Finance Ministry to reveal the list ofprojects awarded through direct negotiations under the Ninth Malaysia Plan(9MP). The PAC also urged the Auditor General’s Department and FinanceMinistry’s monitoring and control division to form internal audit committeesfor all projects awarded on a direct negotiation basis. Shahrir said theFinance Ministry should think of a mechanism to determine reasonable profitmargins for companies providing supplies and services to the Government.In the meantime, the PAC will hold briefings with all other ministries thatwere cited in the report. The PAC also supported the recommended punitivecrime punishment for civil servants who waste public funds whenimplementing projects. This is provided for under the Financial ProceduresAct 1957, he said, which stipulated that a surcharge could be imposed ongovernment officers found responsible for any improper payment of publicmoney.“It is thus important for officers to protect themselves in such directnegotiations,” he said. “We want officers to be accountable and responsiblefor actions and decisions.” However, PAC vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Giawconceded that although the PAC could haul up anyone, including ministers, toexplain any irregularities after the AG has presented his report, nothing muchcan be done. “If they (the departments) can escape, they will,” said the DAPMember of Parliament. “The PAC is as effective as the chairman. But hishands and feet are tied whether he likes it or not,” said Tan, who feels thatPAC should be led by an opposition MP, as is the case in Britain and India, forit to be more effective.Check and balanceRecent history indicates that this might just be true; for example, in 2000,most of the recommendations made by the PAC were not acted on due to alack of will and a proper follow-up mechanism.Shahrir, however, believes that the public should be happy that there issome sort of check and balance mechanism in place.“The PAC is as good as all its members. The auditor-general’s report ispublished year in and year out but it gets attention only when it is treatedlike a big thing in the media. It is to the credit of the Government to have acheck and balance mechanism in the system, especially to monitor financialmanagement issues,” he said.The PAC, he assured, would continue investigations into the allegations andpass on the evidence to the relevant agencies, such as the Anti CorruptionAgency, if there is any proof of crime.
Sunday October 7, 2007Mammoth task, little impactBy JOSEPH LOH and RASHVINJEET S.BEDIsunday@thestar.com.mySo much work goes into the process of auditing governmentagencies. Yet, after the Auditor-General’s annual report ispublished, the public outcry over the mismanagement of fundsovershadows the rather pathetic follow-up.WHEN audit officers with Auditor-General's (AG) department call on agovernment agency, no one stands in their way. In fact, getting complianceto conduct audit work is easy. The reason for this is that the AG's duties aremandated by law under the Audit Act 1957 and preventing audit officers fromcarrying out their duties is an offence. “People understand what thedepartment has to do, and the only people who fear or dislike them are theones who have something to hide,” says former deputy AG L.T. Kulasingam.“Officers can walk in anytime as they all carry authority cards. However,surprise checks are rarely done; such checks would only involve centres thathandle a lot of cash,” he adds. Explaining the depth and breadth of the AG’sdepartment’s scope of work, he says they examine the accounts of theGovernment, and review a wide range of activities and projects which are ofpublic interest.Two levels of auditAll the work leading up to the preparation of the annual AG's report is huge.The department’s scope and nature of work involves auditing numerousministries, departments, statutory bodies, and many other agencies thatmake up the Government, down to district levels. “The task is immense. Notonly is there geographical spread, but factors like volume, dispersion and thevarious types of activities are examined. It is a whole gamut of things –records, people, projects, contracts transactions, accounts, so the task isvery large, varied and fraught with problems.”Kulasingam explains that the audit is done at two levels – in terms offinancial and compliance and the other, performance. For the former aspect,it examines all accounts, systems and processes, procedures, and compliancewith the laws, rules and regulations. This will cover all manner of
Page 1 and 2: Tuesday October 2, 2007PJ City Coun
Page 3: Sunday October 7, 2007Civil service
Page 7 and 8: Impartial probe“It is a question
Page 9 and 10: Sunday October 7, 2007Gerakan: Form
Page 11 and 12: The ministry was alleged to have sp
Page 13 and 14: Tuesday October 16, 2007Cuepacs aga
Page 15 and 16: Thursday October 18, 2007PAC still
Page 17 and 18: Sunday October 21, 2007Act tougher
Page 19 and 20: Trail of abuseSurely there must be
Page 21 and 22: Monday October 22, 2007Pointless no
Page 23 and 24: Tuesday October 23, 2007ACA suggest
Page 25 and 26: Wednesday October 24, 2007Agency: P
Page 27 and 28: Wednesday October 24, 2007ACA wants
Page 29 and 30: Thursday October 25, 2007Three char
Page 31 and 32: Wednesday October 24, 2007Audit tea
Page 33 and 34: Saturday October 27, 2007Civil serv
Page 35 and 36: Tuesday October 30, 2007Shahrir: Go
Page 37 and 38: Tuesday October 30, 2007I pay dead
Page 39 and 40: Wednesday October 31, 2007ACA probe

PJ City Council's accounts are in order

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