KUALA LUMPUR: The National Sports Council (NSC) issued a statement on Wednesday to clear the air, following allegations that funds amounting to RM1.47 million for NSC had "vanished".
It stated that the 2022 Auditor General's Report (LKAN) had found that RM1.26 million was spent and approved by NSC.
According to LKAN, RM550,000 was paid to coaches and athletes under the national backup programme, RM300,000 for equipment and bicycle spare parts for the national backup programme, RM70,000 for sports science services for national backup athletes and those at the Mokhtar Dahari Academy, and RM340,000 for National Sports Associations (NSAs) between 2019 and 2021.
Additionally, RM210,000 was found under "expenditure not under the scope" which was approved by the National Sports Institute (NSI) for NSAs between 2016 and 2018.
According to NSC, no money went missing, and those were mere allegations based on inaccurate reports and opinions on various media platforms.
"The NSC and NSI, through several meetings with the National Audit Department, have justified that allocations from the National Podium Programme were used for athletes under the national backup programme, because it is the same athletes who help prepare the Podium athletes for major sporting events.
"For the payments made for sports science and medical services, the NSC had difficulty separating the recipients by their respective allocations, so it was handed out to all under NSC's programme.
"The focus of the Podium Programme is to prepare athletes for major events such as the Sea Games, Para Asean, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Asian Para Games, Olympics and Paralympics.
"Generally, grants will be handed out to NSAs to manage their preparations towards these major sporting events, especially sports not under the NSC programme.
"Among the sports who benefited from this are muay thai, fencing, kickboxing, snooker and billiard.
"Some of these sports have even contributed medals at the Sea and Asian Games level.
"The NSC hopes this clarification will help correct the negative perception that has come up about following reports and inaccurate opinions on most media platforms," said the statement.