The Malaysian Insider – 1 hour 22 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- Disciplinary action finally initiated against officer who stole RM1 million
The government is finally taking disciplinary action, upon the advice of the Attorney-General (A-G), against a civil servant who embezzled nearly RM1 million from the Accountant-General’s Department, Finance Ministry (MOF) secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said.
He said the Accountant-General's Department had delayed taking any action because they were waiting for the police investigation to conclude, but after being advised by the A-G not to wait, the department has taken initial steps to carry out disciplinary action against the officer.
"The finance ministry was of the view that we should not take any disciplinary action or surcharge before police investigations had concluded,” Irwan told a townhall meeting on the 2013 Auditor-General (A-G) Report today.
"However, on September 18, 2014, the Attorney-General advised us that we don't have to wait for the police investigation, that disciplinary action could be taken against him simultaneously.
"So the following day, on September 19, MOF issued a letter to the Accountant-General's Department to take disciplinary action and I was informed this morning that the department has taken initial steps to carry out disciplinary action,” he said.
The third series of the A-G’s Report found that the officer was let off despite several police reports lodged against him on two occasions – on March 3 and March 10 in 2011 – after the losses were discovered.
The officer had made off with unclaimed money totalling RM995,031.
"An officer conducted fraud and misappropriation of funds from August 27, 2008, to December 21, 2010, involving RM995,031 in unclaimed money and no legal action has been taken despite police reports lodged against him.
"The losses were also reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on March 11 the same year," said the A-G Report.
The report, which was released in Parliament on Monday, noted that police have completed their investigation on the case.
The investigation papers had been sent to the Attorney-General's Chambers with a recommendation to charge the suspect for falsifying accounts under Section 477A of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of a maximum of seven years jail, a fine or both.
An investigation committee set up to probe the incident found that the suspect is a Grade N17 administrative clerk with the Accountant-General Department's Trust and Securities Management division.
They also found that the the officer had falsified supporting documents for money categorised as "improper payments" amounting to RM827,781.46.
The officer had also made payments totalling RM106,955.35 to various individuals while it could not be established whether the balance amount of RM60,294.50 were genuine payments.
All the money was transferred via Electronic Fund Transfer.
Despite being recommended to be sacked and fined by the investigation panel on April 22, 2011, the A-G Report found that the officer was instead transferred to the Accounting Development and Management Division effective January 9, 2012.
In March last year, the Finance Ministry gave its approval to write off the RM995,031 lost but issued a directive that disciplinary action and a surcharge be taken against the officer. – November 12, 2014.
