The National Audit Department will be auditing the procurement process of the Youth and Sports Ministry and its agencies, Chief Secretary to the Government Ali Hamsa said.

Ali said he had discussed with Auditor-General Ambrin Buang that an audit would be carried out following the proposal to set up an independent investigation team by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Among others, the audit would study whether the financial regulations were adhered to by the ministry and identify weaknesses in its financial procedures, Ali said.

"The National Audit Department will report the findings of the audit and present to the government the improvements required. This is like forensic auditing," he said at a news conference in Putrajaya late yesterday.

"The findings of the investigation will be reported to the cabinet and the meeting of secretaries-general (KSU). We hope to do it within the first quarter of this year," he said.

Also present was Public Service Department director-general Mohamad Zabidi Zainal.

Last Friday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) detained a ministry division secretary on suspicion of masterminding a syndicate to misappropriate government funds amounting to RM107 million.

Khairy, at a press conference at the ministry yesterday, confirmed a ministry official was being investigated by the MACC over the fraud.

All ministries to be randomly audited

Ali said the auditor-general had been told to review the entire auditing process starting with the Youth and Sports Ministry before it would be implemented in the other ministries randomly so that there would be no leakages or parties taking advantage of any weaknesses.

In this regard, he said secretaries-general of ministries, as the financial controllers, should know how allocations were spent in a ministry as they were responsible for the capital expenditure and operating expenditure.

"By right, he (the secretary-general) should know where these money go. Then, the payments for projects are done by officers in the finance division or development division.

"That is what I want to find out - whether they go back to the financial controller or not. We have to wait and see," he said.

Asked whether the secretary-general or former secretaries-general in the ministry would be hauled up for fund misappropriation, Ali said: "It all depends on whether they were misled or not. We will check and see. We cannot make a general conclusion now."

Ali said the suspect apprehended by MACC would face work suspension under Regulation 43 of the Public Officers Regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993.

Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah when met by reporters at a Finance Ministry programme yesterday, said the procedure of public fund spending should be tightened with the secretary-general of each ministry studying each expenditure.

Irwan Serigar said the secretary-general would report to the chief secretary to the government for every expenditure made.

"With careful planning, I hope cases of leakage, corruption and so on will not happen," he said, adding that measures to tighen the procedures of government fund spending would be discussed with Ali.

Irwan Serigar also reminded that Treasury instructions and government circulars issued must be obeyed.

- Bernama