MCMC to file anti-corruption report after auditors identify areas of fund abuse

The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will be filing a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the abuse of Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) fund after the Auditor General’s Report 2018 highlighted several lapses.

In a media statement shared on Facebook, the communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo said he takes a "serious look" at the audit results pertaining to the management of the funds. He added that since he took over the leadership in May 2018, the ministry has stopped the practice of appointing special officers for the minister and deputy minister by using MCMC funds.

All current special officers were also appointed following approved government occupational warrants, therefore ensuring the problem will no longer continue. “The commission has also halted the implementation of CSR programmes on behalf of the ministry, with the allocation transferred to MCMC’s operational costs," he said.

The report pointed out that channelling of funds to other government agencies were done under ministerial orders, and that MCMC’s procedures do not require its commission members to grant approval for special projects. It was also found that implemented projects were not monitored after funds have been allocated as of 31 January. Additionally, the operating procedures and guidelines for channelling funds to third parties have not been established. Meanwhile, audit checks also identified that the approval justifications for the ministers' CSR expenditure were unclear.

The audit report shared that some RM12.81 million of funding were used from 2016 to April 2018. Projects that did not fit MCMC’s guidelines included RM4.75 million purchase of big data analytics system MyInsight a week ahead of the general elections. Furthermore, RM100,000 was used to donate 50,000 copies of prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s books in February last year, and RM104,679 was used on predictive analytics for the Sungai Besar by-election in mid-2016.