Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang (pic) feels it is unfair to assume that every aspect of his report involves to corruption.
Ambrin said on Saturday that some of the shortcomings of spending in the public sector highlighted in his reported were due to ‘opportunists’ from the private sector hired by the government.
However he said that lessons were not learnt from the recurring leakages and wastage in the government.
These issues will continue if department heads didn’t competently address problems raised in the reports, he told a forum on Government accountability by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) and the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).
“But don’t get the idea that all issues in the report is due to corruption, which is a criminal act that should be professionally investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
“Most of the reported losses is due to human error. Oversight is the popular word. These issues require corrective measures rather than punitive,” said Ambrin, who attributed the perception of widespread corruption to the way his report was being written in the media.
He said that the failure of correcting the mistakes raised in the report yearly resulted in repeated offenders
“I am reminded of a case which has been happening since I assumed duties in 2006.
This involved the distribution of welfare money by the state welfare departments to dead people.
“Even now different states are still facing this problem, so why is it recurring?
“People just don’t learn and think,” he said
Ambrin also hinted that wastages in the public sector was due to private consultants, contractors and vendors who were hired for projects but were looking to maximise their own profits at the expense of public funds.
He said the government needed to buck up in supervising their projects.
“Some might say supervision is grossly inadequate.
“They do need to buck up but authorities need to be careful with their investigation and prosecution. That is my opinion,” he said.
The public forum, held in the UNMC’s Teaching Centre in Jalan Conlay also featured a panel including MACC senior deputy director of investigations Datuk Han Chee Rull, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Tony Pua and C4 founding director Cynthia Gabriel.-thestaronline
