PUTRAJAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin wants a total review of procedures and practices in its management of funds by in the wake of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Agency’s (MACC) arrest of a ministry official last Friday.
Khairy today announced that an independent investigations team would be set up by the Chief Secretary to the Government to look into the entire mechanism of the ministry's fund management.
The minister said a ministry-wide crackdown has been launched as he not only wants to get to the bottom of it by weeding out all those involved in the scandal, but also to ensure such practices are not repeated.
Last Friday, MACC arrested a Youth and Sports Ministry finance department officer on suspicion of misappropriation of government funds to the tune of RM28.3 million, believed to have been done over several years.
The suspect was said to have been arrested at a function in full view of his peers, while follow-up reports suggested that probes also found the suspect to have been living well beyond his means.
With assets such as a fleet of luxury cars, a swanky home and jewellery, the suspect's bank accounts where funds in excess of RM8 million were discovered have also been frozen.
While Khairy disclosed that the funds involved were those in which the suspect was in a position to release payments without approval of his superiors, no action has yet been taken by the ministry.
"The government procedure is that a person will be automatically suspended when they are charged in court. The officer involved is currently under remand, so that has not taken effect yet," he said.
Khairy said the ministry would give its full cooperation in the investigation, and said the incident should also return the people's confidence in the MACC.
"While this is a negative incident for the Youth and Sports Ministry, it will also give the people confidence in the MACC, that they are carrying out their duties diligently and that nobody is above the law or protected," said Khairy.
In a press conference at his ministry today, Khairy laid down the basics in accepting that there may have been loopholes and weaknesses that led to such practices being allowed to happen, and that they needed to be swept out immediately.
"MACC had informed me several weeks ago that an investigation was being conducted on the said officer," said Khairy, in confirming that the arrested official was indeed from his ministry.
"I have stated that the Youth and Sports Ministry and related agencies will extend full cooperation to the MACC so that investigations can be done swiftly and comprehensively."
He said the ministry would leave the matter in the hands of the MACC, while supporting the agency's efforts to weed out corruption and abuse of power.
Khairy has also ordered an immediate review of the administrative processes in the ministry's management of funds.
"For this, I have discussed with the Chief Secretary to the Government (Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa) on the establishment of an independent investigations teams to identify weaknesses and loopholes in the processes that may have led to this," said Khairy.
Khairy said this incident had happened despite the ministry being subject to an annual audit by the National Audit Department.
"To ensure that it is fully independent, there will be no representative from the Youth and Sports Ministry on board that team."