KUALA LUMPUR: Proactive measures including the forming of 11 investigation committees at nine ministries including departments and statutory bodies has shown a drop of 15 per cent in punitive complaints compared to the report in 2012.
Chief Secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa said the Auditor General's report 2012 stated there were 94 punitive complaints from overall complaints while the number had dropped to 80 last year (55 in 2013 series 1 and 25 in 2013 series 2).
Ali, in a townhall follow up session to the AG's report with the media said the investigation commitees were set up to receive relevant statements from witnesses and the alleged officers involved in the misconduct.
"In case if we have a strong case against the officer then actions will be taken against the alleged officer for misconduct leading to him or her being charged at court," he said.
Ali also said there were 121 cases of corruption, abuse of power, misdemeanour and negligence identified in the AG’s 2012 Report.
Ali said that as of June 13, action has been taken in 99 cases from that report, while 22 cases were still being investigated.
Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 165 officers. Out of that, 67 officers were found guilty, 10 not guilty, while proceedings against the other 88 are still ongoing.
On the latest AG’s 2013 report (second series), 25 reprimands were made.
Ali said that as of June 16, 10 reprimands were made and disciplinary action against 21 officers were taken while the remaining 15 reprimands were found to be free of elements of corruption, abuse of power, misdemeanour or negligence. Instead, those cases were found to require improved rules and procedures.
However, he said those 15 reprimands will be examined further by getting in the Public Service Department, the Finance Ministry, the National Audit Department, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to ensure that there really is no corruption, abuse of power, misdemeanour or negligence.
"For corrective reprimands, chief secretaries and secretaries-general in state governments have been requested to improve rules, procedures and work processes immediately after the exit conference, which is a joint meeting with the chief secretaries to get additional information, and after receiving the confirmatory letter, which contains details of the audit reprimands for each ministry,” he said.
When asked why financial mismanagement and procurement problems kept plaguing government ministries over the years, Ali said that total perfection was impossible.
“We can’t be perfect 100 per cent. There’ll be glitches, but we are trying to be perfect,” said Ali.
Among those who attended the session which was held for the first time was Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal Abidin and Auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang.
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