KUANTAN: Pahang conducts internal and external audits including forensic audits when required as part of the measures to tackle leakages among state government-linked companies (GLCs).
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said despite the National Audit Department not carrying out audits on some of the GLCs, the state government has nevertheless taken up the responsibility to ensure effective check-and-balance.
"We have internal and external audits including conducting the forensic audit on accounts especially when there are incidents of huge losses or we sense something is not right including abuse of power.
"It is not necessary that all the audits have to utilise the National Audit Department. All the state GLCs accounts can be accessed through the Companies Commission of Malaysia," he said when replying to a supplementary question from Chiong Yoke Kong (DAP - Tanah Rata) who asked about how Pahang implements a check and balance when audit process for some of the companies are not conducted by the National Audit Department.
Chiong in his written question had also asked Wan Rosdy about the roles of the five subsidiaries under the Pahang Corporation Sdn Bhd (Pahang Corp) namely Pahang Management Services Sdn. Bhd, Pahang Water and Energy Resources Sdn.Bhd, Pahang Orang Asli Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Koridor Utiliti Pahang Sdn. Bhd and Pahang Go Sdn. Bhd.
After Wan Rosdy explained the roles of the five companies, Chiong asked since most of the subsidiaries were involved in collecting fees from the public, were the companies subjected to audit by the National Audit Department and if the findings were presented to the state government.
Wan Rosdy replied that not all the companies were currently audited as some were recently set up for example the Pahang Orang Asli Corporation Sdn. Bhd.
"The audit process will begin once everything has been settled and this is a normal process as this is a registered company. These companies were established to minimise bureaucracy and ensure a smooth process....these companies are one-stop centres and there is a specific vehicle to monitor all these companies," he said.
To a supplementary question from Datuk Nor Azmi Mat Ludin(BN-Kuala Semantan) on the financial performance of the state GLCs, Wan Rosdy said none recorded negative reports and the audit will be conducted later this month.
Meanwhile, State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain said the state government had never reduced or topped the Malaysia Games (Sukma) bound athletes' training allowances during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"During the pandemic, athletes had problems undergoing training and Sukma had to be postponed. Usually, the allowance will be discontinued (since Sukma is postponed) but the state government spent some RM700,000 to continue paying their allowance.
"Besides continuing the allowance until the next Sukma, we provided Covid-19 aid and distributed food baskets to the athletes," he said when replying to a question from Sim Chon Siang (PKR- Teruntum) who asked about the state government's initiatives after the National Sports Council (NSC) reviewed the allowances of national athletes on Jan 5.