KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) had been flagged up in the Auditor-General’s Report 2016 Series 2 for accumulating RM75.10 million in unused development allocations from 2013 to 2016.
According to the report, a large portion of the surplus funds was put in fixed deposit amounting to RM81.5 million in 2015 and RM66.9 million in 2016.
“A large portion of UPSI’s unused allocations received from the Higher Education Ministry was for development.
“For the period between 2013 and 2016, UPSI received RM161.02 million in development allocations. However, the allocations spent amounted to only RM3.96 million to RM45.23 million,” it noted.
According to the report, other weaknesses included spending RM61,051 on empowering Bahasa Melayu and strengthening English among teachers as well as primary and secondary students before it was approved.
It said the assigning power to sign a contract was irregular, resulting in 24 letters of acceptance involving RM91.75 million signed by an unauthorised officer.
The procurement of transport services and equipment totalling RM0.49 million was carried out without the approval of officers and the extension of time (EOT) approval which contradicted the contract/rules, causing UPSI unable to impose a payment of RM0.49 million for LAD (liquidated and ascertained damages).
Apart from that, 62 (88.57 per cent) of the 70 contract cleansing workers did not receive EPF contributions from their employer while 14 (66.67 per cent) out of 21 contract workers did not receive Socso contributions.
As such, to ensure proper and efficient UPSI procurement management, the university has been told to set up an investigation committee to check and overcome the weaknesses in its procurement system. -- BERNAMA