The National Professors Council (NPC) appeared to wave off findings by the National Audit Department by zooming in on a period of time when it was cut off from public funding.

This was despite the majority of issues highlighted by the audit department occurring after public funding to the council was restored.

In a brief statement, the NPC explained that the government had moved to dissolve the council and end public patronage in May 2018.

“Starting from the date of dissolution, the NPC no longer received government funds and operated using contributions and self-funding while running as an independent entity,” it said.

It added that during this period the NPC had to carry out several measures to ensure its continuity.

It then said that the NPC only began receiving government funds again in January 2022.

The decision to remove the council from government patronage was made by the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration.

The Ismail Sabri Yaakob government re-adopted the NPC in November 2021.

The NPC is an entity under the Prime Minister’s Department which reports to the higher education minister. The minister serves as NPC adviser.

Conflict of interest

In the audit findings published today, one of the issues was RM373,516 of NPC funds being used to pay for the operations of two companies owned by board-of-trustee members.

The NPC - in its response to the National Audit Department included in the audit report - said the two companies were formed to help generate income after government funding was cut in 2018.

The NPC is an entity under the Prime Minister’s Department

However, the issue flagged by the audit department was the conflict of interest as a result of two board members - the secretary-general, who is also the NPC president-cum-CEO, and the former deputy secretary-general - not disclosing their ownership in the two companies.

The report did not name any individuals, but the NPC president from 2019 to present is UiTM board of directors' chairperson Raduan Che Rose.

The identity of the former deputy secretary-general could not be ascertained.

Large allowances without ministry approval

Another major issue flagged by the audit was the NPC paying large allowances totalling RM207,000 to the permanent chairperson and deputy chairperson without ministerial approval.

These payments of RM5,000 and RM4,000 per month respectively were made from March 2022 to January this year - when government funding for the NPC had already been restored.

NPC president Raduan Che Rose

According to the NPC website, its chairperson since 2019 is UKM anthropologist Shamsul Amri Baharuddin while UUM political scientist Mohamed Mustafa Ishak is deputy chairperson.

Also flagged in the audit were salary increments in 2022 and 2023 for the top management - including the president-cum-CEO - and the latter’s allowances exceeding NPC guidelines and not being approved by the board of trustees.

According to the audit, the government gave the NPC grants totalling RM7.78 million for 2022 and 2023.