KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Ministry failed to take follow-up actions to ensure that a company hired to supply weapons and accessories would honour its contractual obligations, resulting in losses of RM6.34 million.
According to the 2022 Auditor General's Report, a company only named as "X", failed to fulfil its contractual obligation with the Home Ministry worth RM6.34 million.
"Further audit reviews revealed that no follow-up actions were taken against the company to ensure compliance with its contractual obligations.
"The failure of follow-up actions by the Home Ministry regarding contract term compliance has resulted in estimated losses to the government amounting to RM6.34 million," it said.
The report said the agreement for the disposal contract of various types of old/worn-out weapons and accessories owned by the police was signed between the Home Ministry and Company X on Oct 1, 2012, with the agreement period from Oct 1, 2012, to Sept 30, 2014.
It said Clause 5 of the agreement stated that the value of the agreement is not less than RM7.50 million.
"Referring to the Acceptance Letter dated Sept 7, 2012, Company X is responsible for supplying weapons and accessories and conducting a two-day training in exchange for the disposal of various types of weapons.
"The audit review found that police gradually handed over various types of old/worn-out weapons and accessories to Company X between Oct 5, 2012, and Nov 11, 2014. In Oct 2014, Company X delivered accessories worth RM1.16 million to the police," it added.
In a letter dated June 23 this year by the Home Ministry to Company X, the ministry had urged the company to supply the appliances immediately or the company will face legal action.
The Home Ministry further said it will establish an Internal Investigation Committee to probe the issue.
"For future improvements in procurement management, the ministry has decided not to engage in barter trade for firearm acquisitions, and instead, procurements will be conducted through open tenders," it said.
The report also found that firearms owned by individuals, heritage firearms, and those seized by the police are still stored in the police firearms storage facility, with some dating back to 48 years.
Further investigation by the Auditor General's office revealed that these firearms have not been disposed, despite not being claimed by any individuals or having undergone legal processes related to criminal cases.
"This issue arises due to a lack of coordination regarding the storage and disposal procedures for firearms between the Licensing Division and the Armament Division in each district police headquarters (IPD).
"The audit review found that the Armament Division is not informed by the Licensing Division about firearms with expired licences and those not claimed by any party for disposal. Additionally, the Armament Division has been delayed in taking action to dispose of firearms that have completed legal processes," it added.
The report said that the prolonged storage and non-disposal of firearms in the police storage facility have implications for the safety risks associated with public firearm storage that the police needed to address.
In a letter dated June 13, 2013 by the police on disposal of firearms, the directive stated that all district police chiefs were required to conduct a review of the disposal of surplus firearms/ammunition every six months.
"The review reports should be submitted to the Chief of IPPDRM Licences by Aug 31 and Feb 28 each year. The disposal of firearms stored in IPD facilities will only be carried out after the PDRM Firearms Disposal Contract has been approved by the Home Ministry," the report stated.