TALENT Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp) has not had a chief executive since the change of government in 2018, auditors have found.

Auditor-General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid, presenting Series 1 of the Auditor-General’s Report 2019 in Putrajaya today, said there have been management issues in the government agency due to a lack of leadership.

TalentCorp has been “headless” since it was moved from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Human Resources Ministry by the Pakatan Harapan government following the 2018 general election.

“In 2018, there was a change of government. That is one of the reasons for the vacancy for the CEO’s post. There was a reshuffle of ministries and agencies then, and this took some time (to complete),” said Nik Azman.

“TalentCorp was originally under PMO, but it was moved to the Human Resources Ministry. It took time to fill posts in the various agencies and that of CEO.”

PH took Putrajaya in May 2018, and was ousted by Perikatan Nasional in February.

Among TalentCorp’s issues highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report are that its standard operating procedures do not go through its board and no internal audit has been carried out.

The report also found that the results of the Returning Expert Programme (REP), targeted at Malaysian professionals overseas, are not satisfactory. Little was done to promote REP, and its key performance indicators were set “very low”. Also cited are the scheme’s poor data-keeping and SOPs.

And yet, Putrajaya pumped RM367.57 million into TalentCorp’s development, and a further RM124.85 million for its operations from 2011 to last year, said Nik Azman. – August 24, 2020.