KUALA LUMPUR: Graft busters will start looking at the impact and success of initiatives carried out by agencies handling public funds and will red flag them if they are deemed to have failed in their mission.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), in an article today cited agencies and funds like the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana), the Malaysian Indian Society Transformation Unit (Mitra), and the Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) as examples that were established to help people affected by economic pressure during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the strong worded article, titled 'Ketirisan Dan Penyelewengan Pengurusan Dana' ('Leakages and serious misconduct in management of funds'), MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner (Operations) Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya spotlighted the "fading value of integrity" among several companies that are responsible for assisting the government to channel funds or aid to the needy during the pandemic.
He said there were "serious leakages" and misappropriation of such programmes.
He pointed out that those in need were affected and burdened by job loss, unemployment, and business problems where some people were even forced to shut down their businesses due to economic uncertainties during the pandemic.
To ease their burden, he said the government had introduced funds, loans, moratoriums, skills training programmes, and special financial assistance.
"But what happened? There was a group of individuals, companies and organisations that had taken the opportunity to profit from the rights and sufferings of the affected people.
"These people blatantly took advantage (of the funds provided) by the government by making false claims for growing their personal wealth.
"This is the attitude of 'economic opportunists' (buaya-buaya ekonomi) on a small and medium scale. The value of integrity is fading and greed has become a culture.
"This had only resulted in the further suffering of the working class and marginalised community, students being unemployed, and traders forced to close down businesses," he wrote.
Ahmad Khusairi stressed that this is a form of leakage that the government should pay attention to.
"There is no point in having a policy that looks good on paper but fails at implementation. There are numerous loopholes that create room and opportunities for abuse to happen, such as weaknesses in the process of authenticating information submitted by applicants."
He also highlighted how the nationwide emergency from Jan 11 to Aug 1, 2021 was used as an excuse to "not perform due diligence on applicants".
He further pointed out that there were no clear mechanisms to monitor the programmes or activities that were supposed to be carried out to ensure they were implemented properly.
Besides, there were no clear rules and laws to take action against applicants such as instituting civil suits, reclaiming unspent funds or blacklisting them, he said.
Khusairi said the agencies which were responsible to channel funds to those in need should be constantly monitored, adding that the key performance indicators (KPIs) should not be based on how many people had received aid, how much aid had been channelled, or how many programmes or activities had been conducted.
"All these KPIs are purely quantitative in nature. What should be measured is the impact or outcome of the activity or programme.
"Only then can the intention to reduce unemployment, reduce the number of problematic businesses, and the development of potential and skills of the working class can be achieved," he said.
MACC, he said views embezzlement and leakage of funds and aid of this kind as an important issue and had worked with government agencies and ministries to curb this.
Khusairi highlighted that there were numerous loopholes that allowed for abuse to happen, such as weaknesses in the process of authenticating information submitted by
applicants.
This, he said had resulted in several companies owned by the same person making multiple claims.
Khusairi said MACC arrested 133 company owners or directors last year after their alleged involvement in the misappropriation and leakages of funds and aid.
He said more than 100 companies had been investigated for misappropriation of funds estimated to total RM194 million.
To date, he said 34 company owners or directors have been charged in court with submitting false claims.
"This year, MACC will focus on the issue of leakage and misappropriation of these funds including in the human resources, welfare, automotive, education and higher education, animal husbandry, agriculture and plantation sectors."