A PROGRAMME to increase income of rural folk has failed to meet its main target with some RM10 million either wasted or improperly paid out, according to the 2016 Auditor-General’s report.

The report also urged the authorities to probe officials in charge of the Desa Lestari programme for possible abuse of power and breaches in regulations.

A board member of a cooperative under the programme had also allegedly used its grants for personal gain, the first series of the 2016 AG’s Report said.

The report said that while the Desa Lestari programme had created more jobs and and generated economic growth for its participants, its projects were also inefficiently executed and monitored.

Desa Lestari was an initiative launched in 2013 under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry (KKLW) to get villages to start farming and undertake livestock projects through cooperatives.

Among some of the problems in the programme are:

• 19 projects worth RM5.32 million in 12 cooperatives had been abandoned after they were unsuccessful.
• RM4.56 million was paid out to a company to buy stingless bees without approval from the Finance Ministry and without a signed contract between the ministry and the supplier.
• RM1.13 million was paid for a project that was not approved or authorised.
• To avoid going through a proper tender exercise, administrators had split up RM2.08 million that was used for procurement into six quotations involving three cooperatives.

The report called for disciplinary action against the cooperative board member who used the programme’s grants for personal benefit.

Action has also been urged against other officials who abused their positions to make improper payments and who violated financial regulations.

“The sustainability of the Desa Lestari programme should also be reviewed as it failed to achieve its objectives as a whole,” the report said. – July 31, 2017.