The Penang finance department has reported a loss of RM130,942.68 due to alleged misappropriation of quit rent paid to the Seberang Perai Utara district and land office by one of its assistant administrators.

The department was notified of the matter on March 16 last year.

State financial officer Farizan Darus said the suspect had allegedly misappropriated the money by issuing accounts which reported a lower amount of quit rent collected by the district office.

Farizan said the suspect had used the identity number of the officer in charge in carrying out the misdeed.

While the events happened before 2010, it has not been determined yet for how long the official had been misappropriating the money.

NONE Farizan ( left ) said the matter was first noticed when the suspect started handling the task and was subsequently absent from work, while many calls came in for him.

The department staff then checked his desk and found the bills that had been misappropriated by the suspect, he said.

The Seberang Perai Utara district officer then carried out an internal probe and reviewed several procedures related to collection of bills.

Farizan said a police report was lodged on Feb 19, and this was followed up by a report to the commercial crime unit on May 20.

But it was only on Jan 6 that the police informed the department that the suspect would be charged in court soon, he said.

Farizan said a lack of witnesses was the main reason for the delay in police investigations.

The suspect has not come to work since January last year and disciplinary action has been taken.

New security measures

Speaking to reporters in Penang today, Farizan said to prevent such incidents from recurring, he has instructed that identity numbers for all officers would only be valid for three months, after which they would have to renew their IDs.

“They are not allowed to reveal their ID numbers to others,” he added.

Those whose bills were affected, Farizan said, will not have to make up the losses.

However, they may be asked to come forward with their bills so that the office can record and double-check the exact amount involved.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was also at the press conference, said the people will not need to pay again if their bills were affected.

“The state will have to bear the losses,” he added.

Koh will not dance to Guan Eng's tune