KUALA LUMPUR – The Prime Minister’s Department has ordered an investigation into the Legal Profession Qualifying Board’s (LPQB) finances after finding that 33 years’ worth of data on its accounts “could not be found”.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran revealed the probe to the Dewan Rakyat today in response to Cha Kee Kin’s (Rasah-PH) question about the LPQB’s income and expenditure from Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) exam fees since 1984.
Kulasegaran said an investigation has been ordered into the board’s finances from 1984 to 2017.
“I can only provide data from 2017 because that is the data we obtained (from the board). From our discussions held with the board in the last two days, in simple terms, there is no data on the required years.
“I also requested for an investigation to be launched into this so that we can obtain the answer for Rasah.
“I also believe that it is not reasonable for CLP fees to be increased,” Kulasegaran said during the Minister’s Question Time.
The deputy minister added that according to the Legal Profession Act, LPQB was not required to report its fee increase or financial matters to parties outside the board.
“So I am baffled by this. It’s shocking. I feel that the act needs to be studied again so that appropriate amendments can be made so that these reports will not only be tabled to the board, but also to the Parliament, so we will know how much they have raised and spent, because as of now, it seems all these matters are only known to the board,” he said.
Earlier, he said that the board has received over RM37 million from CLP fees and has spent over RM5,355,174.60 on administration spending alone, which includes costs for exam preparations such as printing question papers, moderating and invigilating. – July 10, 2024