KUALA LUMPUR – Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is scheduled to begin proceedings into the National Professors’ Council on August 1, following discrepancies within the organisation highlighted by the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Report 2024/2.
In a statement today, PAC chairperson Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the committee’s decision came after Auditor-General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi briefed the PAC on its findings during a session on July 10.
The Audit Department previously found that the council, which is an entity under the Prime Minister’s Department reporting to the Higher Education Ministry, had misused its financial funding.
This includes paying a huge allowance of RM207,000 to the permanent chairman and deputy chairman without the minister’s approval, as stated in the report on activities from 2019 to 2023.
It was also discovered that discrepancies amounting to RM373,516 of the council’s funds were utilised to cover the operational expenses of two companies owned by members of the board of trustees.
Meanwhile, other matters the PAC will be looking into include national water management under the purview of the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry as well as the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry, with proceedings set to take place beginning July 29.
Proceedings into the supply of water to rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry will commence on July 30, while proceedings into another agency under the ministry, Mara Incorporated Sdn Bhd, will be held the following day.
Besides that, Mas Ermieyati also confirmed the PAC would summon Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin on August 7 for its second round of proceedings regarding concerns with the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT).
Three former LTAT officials will also be called to testify, namely chairman Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, chief executive Datuk Ahmad Nazim Abd Rahman and strategy senior director Dayana Rogayah Omar.
The PAC had earlier commenced proceedings into LTAT’s financial situation in June, following the release of the A-G’s previous report in March, which highlighted the board’s negative balance in reserves since 2020. – July 16, 2024