The Kedah government had paid contractors for repairs on three low-cost housing units which do not exist, the auditor-general has found.

According to the 2011 report, this was among irregularities found during the audit on 79 housing programmes involving 12,749 units.

Random checks revealed that payment had been made for three repair jobs worth RM29,800 to separate housing units which do not exist.

NONE “The units do not exist as the block only has four floors and the last unit is F-4-20,” the report notes.

Payment had also been made for 10 repair jobs valued at RM14,740,but the work was not completed.

Furthermore, there were also multiple instances where the Menteri Besar's Office had paid several times for a single job, or paid in full for incomplete work.

For example, it paid RM3,000 for two ceiling fans, when only one was installed. In another instance, the fan was not installed at all.

Or, a contractor was paid for repairs which were in fact undertaken by the residents themselves.

The audit has found that repair works in three housing programmes - Taman Seri Gemilang, Flat Seberang Trus and Taman Kelisa Emas - had cost RM3.85 million and was awarded to 40 contractors via direct negotiation.

This contravened a state directive that only contracts worth under RM20,000 can be awarded via direct negotiation.

Of the 40 contractors, five contractors were found to be “related to each other and are in the same family”. They were awarded contracts worth a collective RM2.55 million.

One of the five was not registered with the Companies Commission, while payments made to the company was issued to another company by proxy.

Welfare aid to the dead

The Kedah Welfare Department was found to have continued disbursing RM178,180 in aid to people even after their death, between 2005 and July 2011.

This involved 94 people in Sik, Kota Setar and Kubang Pasu who had been receiving welfare aid prior to their death.

azlan “Checks found that payments were made to the deceased as there is no coordination between the department's administration unit and financial department ... Payments were made even though the recipients' files had been closed,” the audit notes.

In response, the department said that RM108, 560 of the aid disbursed to the deceased has since been recouped from the accounts of 44 recipients, while the process of recovering another RM95,175 is underway.

Meanwhile, the audit has found that the Kubang Pasu Municipal Council is owed RM1.55 million in shop-lot rentals, while Baling Municipal Council is owed RM 2.17 million. The arrears were registered between 2009 and November 2011.

To this, the councils said they have issued notices for collection of arrears, while the Baling Municipal council has also engaged a lawyer to take civil action against defaulters.

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