THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) welcomes the Human Resources Ministry’s decision to appoint a professional third-party auditor to ensure transparency in the independent audit of Human Resource Development Corporation Bhd (HRD Corp).

PAC chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the move was in the right direction to restore public confidence in HRD Corp and affirmed Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong’s stand to reveal the truth.  

“At the same time, we want the ministry to table the findings of this third-party auditor when they and HRD Corp are invited back to face the PAC in September,” she said in a statement.

Sim announced yesterday that the ministry was in the process of appointing a third-party professional auditor following reports of the Audit Department and the PAC on HRD Corp’s operations from 2019 to 2023.

Sim said the independent audit would go hand in hand with investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and any other authority.

In addition, he said HRD Corp had been instructed to provide full cooperation to all relevant parties.

He said a special task force chaired by the ministry’s secretary-general, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, had been established to facilitate ongoing investigations and examine the Audit Department and PAC reports, including MACC investigation results and independent audits.

Sim said the team would further ensure that follow-ups, including improvements, were fully implemented.

On July 4, Auditor General Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi, in the Auditor General’s Report 2/2024, said the ministry was recommended to refer the management of HRD Corp to the relevant enforcement agency due to the government company’s failure in the audit.

Meanwhile, PAC also revealed that a total of RM3.77 billion levy collection from employers was used by HRD Corp to invest in various investment activities. – July 11, 2024.