R Nadeswaran
Published: Jul 6, 2024 3:30 PM
COMMENT | If it had been a commercial organisation, it would qualify to be listed on the stock exchange, especially with annual revenues of RM2 billion.
A set of directors made up of professionals in the industry would have head-hunted a professional to lead the organisation to greater heights.
Unfortunately, the boards of most government companies are filled with politicians and political appointees whose task would be to look after the interests of the respective ministers and not the stakeholders.
The HRD Corp is an example and is making headlines again after six years and for the wrong reasons.
Six years on, nothing’s changed
Two weeks before the 2018 general election, the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF as it was then known) bought and shipped a luxury car costing around RM400,000 to Serian in Sarawak for the private use of then-minister Richard Riot.
Published: Jul 6, 2024 3:30 PM
COMMENT | If it had been a commercial organisation, it would qualify to be listed on the stock exchange, especially with annual revenues of RM2 billion.
A set of directors made up of professionals in the industry would have head-hunted a professional to lead the organisation to greater heights.
Unfortunately, the boards of most government companies are filled with politicians and political appointees whose task would be to look after the interests of the respective ministers and not the stakeholders.
The HRD Corp is an example and is making headlines again after six years and for the wrong reasons.
Six years on, nothing’s changed
Two weeks before the 2018 general election, the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF as it was then known) bought and shipped a luxury car costing around RM400,000 to Serian in Sarawak for the private use of then-minister Richard Riot.
Former human resources minister Richard Riot
“The minister wanted to buy it and we sent it over. When the BN government lost, we brought it back,” said CM Vigneswaran, its then chief executive officer.
Six years after that infamous reply, HRDF - now renamed HRD Corp - finds itself in the news again for the misuse of its funds.
Over the past three days, both the auditor-general and the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have flagged and reprimanded its administration for discrepancies and financial mismanagement.
The damning reports identified several issues, the most important being the use of RM3.77 billion of levy collection from employers used to invest in various investment activities.
In a scathing report, the PAC said that HRD Corp appeared to have misled its board and the Human Resources Ministry to push through the Skills Passport project.
But this is not all. Discrepancies in the purchase of property and equipment and contracts with third parties were also highlighted.
Dubious approval
HRD Corp chief executive Shahul Hamid Shaik Dawood testified to the PAC that the board had approved the project on Oct 6, 2022, but Rosli Yaakub, who represented the Finance Ministry, rejected the assertion.
Shahul, he said, had merely added a slide about Skills Passports at the end of his “CEO brief” presentation to the board.
“The minister wanted to buy it and we sent it over. When the BN government lost, we brought it back,” said CM Vigneswaran, its then chief executive officer.
Six years after that infamous reply, HRDF - now renamed HRD Corp - finds itself in the news again for the misuse of its funds.
Over the past three days, both the auditor-general and the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have flagged and reprimanded its administration for discrepancies and financial mismanagement.
The damning reports identified several issues, the most important being the use of RM3.77 billion of levy collection from employers used to invest in various investment activities.
In a scathing report, the PAC said that HRD Corp appeared to have misled its board and the Human Resources Ministry to push through the Skills Passport project.
But this is not all. Discrepancies in the purchase of property and equipment and contracts with third parties were also highlighted.
Dubious approval
HRD Corp chief executive Shahul Hamid Shaik Dawood testified to the PAC that the board had approved the project on Oct 6, 2022, but Rosli Yaakub, who represented the Finance Ministry, rejected the assertion.
Shahul, he said, had merely added a slide about Skills Passports at the end of his “CEO brief” presentation to the board.
HRD Corp chief executive Shahul Hamid Shaik Dawood
As if in an act of defiance, Shahul accused Rosli of sabotage, including leaking information to the media, and proposed to the government to remove him from the board.
He turned the tables on Rosli at the PAC meeting, saying: “We never want to have a board member who has issues of integrity, governance, leaking information to the public, to be sitting on the HRD Corp board because we discuss a lot of private and confidential things with the board.”
It was an unkind cut for Rosli who exposed the trickery in the so-called board approval but perhaps Shahul was talking about his ilk.
When shortcomings and financial mismanagement are brought into the open, various responses can be expected. When denials of wrongdoing are ignored or refuted, the threat of legal action for defamation will follow as what happened in HRD Corp.
Close one eye?
But the reports of both the AG and the PAC are an indictment on Shahul and how HRD Corp was managed.
Did the investment in shares of public-listed companies get the approval of the board? If so, shouldn’t the directors be held liable for breach of fiduciary duty under the Companies Act?
What about the AG’s Report which stated that more than RM50 million in training grants were disbursed to the same individuals multiple times?
It also noted that the 234 “suspicious” grantees were awarded grants under Skim Gerak Insan Gemilang from 2020 to 2023.
It could not have been an oversight 234 times!
With millions available, trainers and training providers emerged over the years providing training from making garlands to preparing roti canai and from draping sarees to cooking.
Training is big business and big money too, especially when the government pays for it.
They were “suspicious” because the same identity card number was used for different names while in other cases there were multiple instances of the same name but with different identity card numbers.
How did it get past scrutiny, or were staff asked to tutup satu mata (close one eye) to such blatant deceit?
Shahul should not hide under the so-called independent audit that was commissioned and address all the issues in both reports.
As if in an act of defiance, Shahul accused Rosli of sabotage, including leaking information to the media, and proposed to the government to remove him from the board.
He turned the tables on Rosli at the PAC meeting, saying: “We never want to have a board member who has issues of integrity, governance, leaking information to the public, to be sitting on the HRD Corp board because we discuss a lot of private and confidential things with the board.”
It was an unkind cut for Rosli who exposed the trickery in the so-called board approval but perhaps Shahul was talking about his ilk.
When shortcomings and financial mismanagement are brought into the open, various responses can be expected. When denials of wrongdoing are ignored or refuted, the threat of legal action for defamation will follow as what happened in HRD Corp.
Close one eye?
But the reports of both the AG and the PAC are an indictment on Shahul and how HRD Corp was managed.
Did the investment in shares of public-listed companies get the approval of the board? If so, shouldn’t the directors be held liable for breach of fiduciary duty under the Companies Act?
What about the AG’s Report which stated that more than RM50 million in training grants were disbursed to the same individuals multiple times?
It also noted that the 234 “suspicious” grantees were awarded grants under Skim Gerak Insan Gemilang from 2020 to 2023.
It could not have been an oversight 234 times!
With millions available, trainers and training providers emerged over the years providing training from making garlands to preparing roti canai and from draping sarees to cooking.
Training is big business and big money too, especially when the government pays for it.
They were “suspicious” because the same identity card number was used for different names while in other cases there were multiple instances of the same name but with different identity card numbers.
How did it get past scrutiny, or were staff asked to tutup satu mata (close one eye) to such blatant deceit?
Shahul should not hide under the so-called independent audit that was commissioned and address all the issues in both reports.
R NADESWARAN has been following the activities of the HRDF for more than 15 years and has a dossier of its actions and inaction. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com
Any surprises?
ReplyDeleteLooting the gold mine that few people know is the MO of these mfering paper pushers slotted into those position via that f*cked ketuanan narratives!
Melayu avarice goes on unchecked
ReplyDeleteLong live night soil