The National Audit Department has now established a separate division that has the authorisation to undertake ‘sudden' audit spot-checks on government departments and agencies.

During a 30-minute press conference in Putrajaya, auditor-general Ambrin Buang also revealed that his department has been able to expose various misdemeanours involving 51 irregularities in several government departments.

Some of the major discrepancies occurred in prime departments such as the immigration department, teachers' training institutions and district education offices.

auditor general pc 030908 05 "We can conduct checks on any department and at any time without giving them prior notice. The spot-checks are also done based on complaints and poison letters."

The spot-checks, he added, were specifically done for departments which have not received the accountability index (AI) rating and departments that scored a lower grade for the particular year.

"Every year departments and agencies are graded under the AI and with that we can set a benchmark...for example in 2007, a department or a ministry received two stars and in 2008, they receive three stars - these (results) show improvement," said Ambrin.

Even though the spot-checks were done regularly, the separate division was only established middle of this year to enhance the power to conduct audit whenever without notice, explained Ambrin.

"The auditing can be done irrespective of when the report comes out... and we have no fixed target (no limitations). We can visit anytime - that is the mandate given to us under the Audit Act," he added.

Further, he revealed that action was taken in cases involving negligence, for example the missing equipment worth RM9.56 million for teaching Science and Mathematics in English.

"The teachers who had lost their laptops had been appropriately charged. The same goes to the other departments - they were also fined respectively," said Ambrin.

He also hoped that all agencies and departments will pay serious attention to managing their accounts.

"What matters most is actions are rectified and corrections are made," he added.

Incumbent on ACA to take action

When asked about the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) probe on the irregularities in financial management as highlighted in the Auditor-General's Report 2007, Ambrin said that "all information is available on the AG's website" and it was up to the ACA to investigate.

auditor general pc 030908 03 "The website is open to the public and to the media. So there is no reason for the ACA not to access the website," said Ambrin.

There were already claims of cases of irregularities one week after the report was released, explained Ambrin.

In relations to a separate matter, Ambrin was asked to respond on the query by Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat yesterday, asking for the definition of the term ‘ progress ' - since the AG categorised Kelantan's civil service as such.

In their report released last week, they summed the state's departments and agencies up as performing poorly.

Clarifying the remarks, Ambrin said, "it was not just Kelantan, there were other states too. This remark means the state officers had shown no improvement in monitoring, planning and implementing state projects and funds".

The measure was necessary to ensure improvements in the mentioned sectors and to make sure state servants perform their duties effectively and in a transparent manner, Ambrin added.