THE Human Resources Ministry will decide on the resignations of three board members of the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) amid allegations of misappropriation of funds.

“Three board directors have voluntarily resigned from their positions.

“I’m meeting up with the ministry to see if we will accept their resignations,” minister M. Kulasegaran said after attending the Tamil Media Association Family Day in Sentul today.

The resignations were voluntary after allegations surfaced that HRDF board members had a conflict of interest, as some of them were also training providers.

HRDF is an agency under the ministry which manages training funds for human resource development.

There were also allegations that RM300 million had been misappropriated from the fund, with reports lodged to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

On June 1, Bagan Dalam Assemblyman M. Satees and Seberang Prai Municipal Council member David Marshal lodged a report on the misappropriation of the HRDF funds.

This week, SG Education Group chief executive officer Sri Ganes submitted the evidence to facilitate investigations by MACC on the same matter.

More complaints came to light at a townhall meeting between HRDF and training providers last week, with Kulasegaran present.

It was reported that trainers present complained about the lack of transparency on tenders and poor quality of training providers.

One of three who resigned is R. A. Thiagaraja, the president of the Federation of Malaysian Training Providers & TVET Association.

He has denied involvement in the alleged misappropriation.

It is not clear who the other two are.

Kulasegaran said the ministry will set up a committee to look into the matter.

HRDF chief executive officer C.M. Vignaeswaran Jeyandran will also be investigated by this committee. – June 15, 2018.