Tanah Rata assemblyperson Chiong Yoke Kong has urged the government to take disciplinary action against relevant agencies for the mismanagement of Perbadanan Setiausaha Negeri Pahang (PSK) land projects.
This comes after the Auditor-General’s Report 2020 Series 1 on Pahang released on Tuesday (Aug 2) showed evidence of mismanagement of public real estate by PSK under the state government.
While more than half of its projects were “flawed”, PSK suffered losses of more than RM100 million due to arrears related to land transactions.
Chiong (above) said that given the gravity of the situation, the state government must not stop at reminding the agency and reviewing its performance.
“Instead, it must take the Auditor-General’s Report seriously and seal the administrative loopholes by taking disciplinary or legal actions against the relevant agencies or persons in charge to warn and deter all public servants against committing the same malpractice,” he said in a statement today.
According to Chiong, the report states that from 1994 to 2020, the Pahang government approved 548 projects on government land, with a total size of 4,1432.53ha. PSK was responsible for implementing and coordinating the projects.
In the report, from 2018 to 2020, among the 548 projects, as many as 326 (59.5 percent) were not carried out as scheduled, cancelled or even failed due to various reasons.
Moreover, 115 projects (21 percent) were carried out but did not comply with the standards stipulated by the authorities.
RM147.2m in land disposal arrears
In addition, he also addressed the audit’s statement that PSK’s performance in collecting taxes was unsatisfactory.
“As of December 2020, PSK had land lease arrears of RM11.25 million, quit rent arrears of RM 29.2 million, and the most shocking of all, land disposal arrears of RM147.2 million.
“The Auditor-General’s Report was like a mirror that exposed serious administrative flaws and mismanagement of PSK Pahang, hence the various flawed projects.
“Due to the absence of checks and balances, the state government suffered losses of hundreds of millions, and the benefits of the people of Pahang were also compromised,” he said.
Chiong urged the government not to overlook the severity of the situation, considering that more than half of the projects were not carried out as scheduled or even failed.
“For instance, the state government has leased 5,519ha of land to PSK since 2020.
“For all these years, different parties, including Cameron Highlands’ farmers, are worried about whether PSK is competent enough to implement its tasks and ensure good governance.
“The Auditor-General’s Report reflected that PSK’s administrative system lacked KPI, accountability, and transparency, leading to the eroding trust of the people toward the agency.
“Therefore, the state government must reform the agency and stamp out corrupt bureaucratic practices in order to restore people’s confidence toward all public agencies,” he reiterated.
Not the first time
Besides that, Chiong claims that it was not the first time that the Auditor-General’s Report had identified malpractices in PSK, stating that PSK was also criticised for administrative flaws and financial mismanagement in the reports of 2016 and 2018.
“It is clear that PSK did not take the suggestions given by the Auditor-General seriously, which were supposed to help correct the agency’s flaws and improve the system.
“Despite being the largest administrative agency of the Pahang state, PSK did not set a good example of good governance but is still dismissed as a failed agency in 2022.”
Chiong claimed that, unlike the government, the auditor-general has no power to ferret out and take action against the officers who were guilty of malpractices, corruption, wasting taxpayer’s money, and compromising the people’s benefits as a whole.
“The Auditor-General only has investigative power.
“More often than not, the Auditor-General’s Reports go to waste, for the government and enforcement agencies are unwilling to take concrete actions based on the Auditor-General’s Report.
“This time, the government should punish the officers involved through disciplinary or legal actions and even put them on a blacklist in order to deter others from committing similar malpractices,” he said.
Chiong also urged the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Pahang to act particularly on the 326 projects that were not carried out as scheduled, cancelled, or failed.
“PAC (Pahang) should investigate if there were elements of tunnelling and corruption,” he added.- Mkini
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