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HRD Corp's use of levy collection from employers to invest in various activities is seen as straying from the original goal of the fund's purpose, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) said.
Its secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said, this misappropriation has indirectly affected efforts to improve skills among workers in this country.
He said the disclosure by the Auditor-General (AG) was surprising because the funds that should have been used for training programs to further improve the skills of workers were used for other purposes.
" We are aware that in terms of skills, our workers are still at an unsatisfactory level, so this revelation is indeed very disappointing," he told Malay-language daily Sinar Harian.
The Human Resources Ministry had reported management irregularities at HRD Corp to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), following the publication of the Auditor-General’s Report 2/2024.
In the report, Auditor-General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi said HRD Corp had failed an audit because of management irregularities. He had recommended that the ministry report the management of the government entity to enforcement agencies for action.
The National Audit Department had scrutinised HRD Corp’s operations from 2019 to 2023.
Auditors had found that hundreds of millions of ringgit for training grants, investments, and property purchases were mismanaged,
More than RM50 million in training grants were disbursed to the same person multiple times, she said.
Kamarul said, the time has come for the program to participate in training to improve skills to be expanded by giving flexibility for individual applications as well as trade unions. – The Vibes, July 6, 2024.