The powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today agreed with the Auditor-General's Report that the Youth and Sports Ministry paid more than the market price for items purchased for the National Youth Skill Institute (IKBN) project last year.

After meeting with ministry officials, led by secretary-general Mohd Yasin Salleh, PAC chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad told reporters that lack of supervision resulted in overspending of the budget allocated for the project under the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

Officials from the Finance Ministry were also present at the four-hour meeting in the Parliament building.

The AG's report stated that the ministry paid RM224 for a set of four screwdrivers costing RM32 in the market; RM5.72 million for two crane towers against the market price of RM2.98 million; technical books consisting of 10 titles priced at RM10,700; and RM8,254 for a 3.1 megapixel digital camera.

Shahrir also pointed out that the ministry overspent the budget allocated to build nine IKBN for RM1.129 billion under the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

"Instead of nine institutes, the ministry only managed to build eight with an increase of RM200 million from the original budget," he said.

"The problem arose because dealings which could have been done via open tender were done through direct consultations," he said, adding that such problems could have been avoided if ministry officials as well as the Finance Ministry were more careful in their supervision process.

"If they are not responsible, things like this are bound to happen. Ministries and government agencies must be cautious before suggesting or approving a direct consultation," he noted.

Take action

Shahrir urged the Finance Ministry and AG to identify those who were involved in the acquisition of materials and take action against them by imposing a surcharge on them.

By this, he suggested that the Finance Ministry deduct a certain amount from their pay until the actual amount of surcharge imposed on them is paid off.

"This is important because it is the officials' responsibility to conduct their own investigation before approving a direct consultant to close business deals," he said.

Shahrir also wanted the Finance Ministry to provide PAC with a list of the projects that involved direct consultations.

He said PAC has also urged the Finance Ministry's supervision and control division to form an internal audit committee for projects that involve direct consultation.

Commenting on the direct consultants involved in purchasing of equipments for IKBN, he said: "We're suspicious of them. Why would they agree for prices that are almost 50 to 60 percent above the profit margin?"

He also urged all ministries not to use consultation services if the projects concerned could be done through open tenders.

"If we could find many people to do a project, we should choose the best via open tenders. We should only use direct consultations when a project needs a specific expertise," he said.