New Straits Times
KUALA LUMPUR, 26 JULY 2012 - Moves are afoot to help anti-graft and other enforcement agencies act faster against those misusing public funds.
The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) 2.0 roadmap includes the tabling of the auditor-general's performance audit report three times a year and setting up an action committee to act on the report's findings.
The GTP's fighting corruption National Key Result Areas showed it was better to table the performance audits three times a year to reduce information overload and to allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to act quickly on the report's findings.
The auditor-general's report is tabled after the announcement of the budget each year, even though the performance audits were usually completed up to 14 months earlier.
This, said the roadmap, allowed too much time to pass, resulting in missing or tampered evidence.
Citing the 1,000-page 2010 report, the roadmap said the sheer amount of information in the report made it difficult to pinpoint mismanagement.
Under the proposed plan, fast-tracking access to the report will reduce the time, between the audit's completion and MACC receiving access to the report, from 14 to two months.
The roadmap proposed the setting up of an action committee - comprising the auditor-general, MACC, police and enforcement agencies - to identify outstanding issues each time the attorney-general's report was tabled at Parliament.
It said outstanding issues would be highlighted and made available online to improve transparency and increase public pressure to resolve issues.
A Putrajaya Inquisition, chaired by the prime minister, would meet once a year to provide closure on unresolved issues, said the roadmap.
Members of the inquisition will include MACC, chief secretary to the government, Finance Ministry, Public Service Department and the ministry identified by the auditor-general's report.
The roadmap proposed streamlining the government's online procurement systems by bringing separate portals under the MyProcurement Portal.
The portal will serve as the government's landing page for government procurements.