2011 audit report to be tabled in Parliament

After a delay of more than two weeks, the Auditor-General's Report 2011 will be tabled in Parliament later this morning.

A statement from the Auditor-General's Office states that the report consists of an audit of 456 financial statements, 413 of which have been certified as at today.

"Based on 456 financial statements of the government and its agencies for 2011, 388 (85.1 percent) financial statements were given an audit certification without reprimand," reads the statement from Auditor-General Ambrin Buang.

"(Another) 25 (5.5 percent) were given audit certification with a reprimand for not fully abiding to accounting standards. The remaining 43 (9.3 percent) are still in the process of being audited."

The 43 financial statements are all from state statutory bodies, state Islamic affairs councils and local councils.

The tabling of the audit report comes as the Budget 2013 debate is being wrapped up in the Dewan Rakyat. Each ministry will now respond to issues raised during the policy stage debate.

By convention, the Auditor-General's Report is tabled before the budget speech. This is the second year that it has been tabled after the budget debate.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has defended the decision saying this was to prevent distraction from the budget debate.

However, the opposition has described this as interference in parliamentary affairs and further accused the government of attempting to avoid potential "time-bombs" in the revelations.

The Auditor-General's Report for 2010 had highlighted serious leakages in the National Feedlot Project which eventually led to Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, whose family operates the project, stepping down as women, family and community development minister.

[More to follow]