KUALA LUMPUR: A member of parliament has called on the government to stop allowing the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) to collect levies.
William Leong (PH - Selayang) made this call following issues of mismanagement and financial irregularities highlighted in the latest Auditor General's and Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) reports.
He said that the objective of the levy is to provide training for employees, not for investment purposes.
"I urge the government to consider not allowing HRD Corp to collect levies from employers. This will create room for leakage and corruption.
"So, it is crucial for the government to review this policy and allow employers to conduct their own training," he said during the debate session on the 2023 AG's report in Dewan Rakyat today (July 9).
Leong said that employers are in the best position to determine the necessary skills and training needed.
He suggested that the government should instead provide incentives to employers to encourage this training.
On July 4, the AG's report highlighted that a training programme involving 3,726 participants, some of who attended it up to 16 times, cost HRD Corp RM51.69 million.
In a separate inquiry the PAC found that HRD Corp used RM3.77 billion in levies collected from employers for training development programmes to make several different investments.
Human Resources Minister Steven Sim instructed the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud and HRD Corp chief executive Datuk Shahul Dawood, to prepare the reports to be submitted to the MACC regarding the findings.