Chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa said money that has been lost by government bodies as reported in the auditor-general's report cannot be fully recovered.

"Basically we have a formula, we use a surcharge system, but we cannot recover the amount actually from the respective officers," Ali said during a townhall meeting with the press regarding the newly-released 2014 auditor-general's report in Putrajaya today.

He was responding to a question from a reporter, who had asked whether Putrajaya could recover the loss of RM501,524.33 in two incidents involving the Works Ministry and the Education Ministry as highlighted in the AG's report.

"It's always a token. What we get is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

He added that the government has recovered RM86,OOO in surcharge from the amount lost in 2013.

The 2013 AG's report revealed that the government has lost more than a million ringgit.

Meanwhile, Ali also elaborated on the exit policy for civil servants, saying that the government does not plan to use this as a measure to reduce staff.

Instead, this is a measure only to be used on staff who are not performing, he said.

Those who score below 60 percent in their appraisal report for 2015 will be subjected to the exit policy, he added.

However, these people will have to go through a probation period, where they will be assessed and be subjected to psychology intervention.

"We try to motivate them to ensure they still remain in the government, but if after a year, their performance is still the same, then this (exit policy) will come into effect," he said.