KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry views seriously allegations that the national news agency Bernama is facing financial constraints and will conduct a probe into the matter.
Its minister Lim Guan Eng said allegations made by Bernama’s senior accounts and finance manager Syarifah Zaini Syed Zain was serious.
The allegations include that Bernama had to utilise Employee Provident Fund (EPF) deductions to pay the July salary of staff.
Syarifah Zaini was also quoted as saying that the government news agency had yet to receive financial grant from the government, and as such the EPF deductions were used to pay the staff July salary.
She said the financial grant from the government was delayed, and was yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry;
The others allegations were that the wire agency’s staff car loans paid through salary deduction was also affected as payments have only been made up to June; Bernama had requested the Finance ministry’s explanation on the delay involving the financial grant for the third quarter; and there was no guarantee that salary for Bernama staff would be paid by Aug 22 or 23.
“This is a serious allegation in view that the fact shows otherwise," Lim said in a statement today.
“If the July salary was not paid due to the failure to receive the grant from the Finance Ministry, how is it then that an application to the Finance Ministry was dated July 19 and was received on July 22?"
The Finance Minister also said the remarks by Bernama Chief Executive Officer Nurini Kassim that the news agency faced financial constraints until it affected EPF contributions was "baseless" as the Ministry had always prioritised staff salaries, including their EPF contributions.
"Emoluments and salaries will always be provided with sufficient allocation to ensure they are paid and are prioritised compared to other payments," Lim said.
He said question arises whether funds which were allocated for the payment of emoluments, salary and EPF contributions was ‘diverted’ by Bernama for the purpose of other payments.
“I hve directed the Finance Ministry to initiate a probe to determine who should be held responsible for this serious position as well as bar all EPF contributions, to enablea appropriate action to be taken.
“The federal government is not a bankrupt government, unlike a certain state government which is unable to pay the salary of their public servants”.
Lim said such a report had tarnished the Ministry's image which had often been blamed when a ministry or agency exceeded their budget allocations and seek to find excuses for their mistakes involving mismanagement of funds
Meanwhile a news portal reported Bernama as saying that all outstanding cash flow problems have been resolved and that it is working to improve its internal cash flow and financial management process.