KUALA LUMPUR: The government will ensure the immediate auditing of the earnings of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board from collection of fees for the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination as this has not been done for 17 years.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said the fact that no audit had been conducted for 17 years only came to light during a meeting of the Dewan Rakyat Special Chambers several weeks ago.
"We will take follow-up action so that an audit is undertaken as soon as possible and stakeholders can find out whether the conduct of the board is according to the law.
"The governance needs to be transparent and open so that the public knows what is being spent," he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat.
On the matter of taxes, Kulasegaran said he would look for feedback from the board.
On the initial question from Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) on the total amount the board had collected from CLP candidates for 2024, he said as of Sept 30, this stood at RM4.26 million.
"The board relies solely on the collection of CLP examination fees, as well as some other feews," he said.
To a supplementary question from Datuk Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (PN-Besut), Kulasegaran said of the 1,058 candidates who took the CLP, 200 passed, 164 received conditional passes and 694 had failed.
Kulasegaran admitted that the fee charged by the board was relatively high, adding that discussions had been held for a cut in the amount.