M.Krishnamoorthy
A media coach, adjunct professor and author
Human Resources Development Corp, responsible for ensuring the highest standards in training, has mismanaged hundreds of millions of public funds
The fund had assets worth RM3.77bil with cash making up for the largest chunk at RM1.92bil (51%) followed by Bond, sukuk and derivatives at RM690.31mil (18.3%), Equities and Derivatives amounting to RM542.45mil (14.4%), Amanah Raya and Unit Trust RM143.83mil (3.8%).
Among the issues flagged are the Public Accounts Committee’s findings:
- Mismanaged millions of Ringgit involving training grants, investments and property purchases
- More than RM50 million in training grants were disbursed to the same person multiple times while auditors deemed more than 200 offers as 'suspicious'
- The purchase of the RM154mil Bangsar South building did not obtain the approval of the HRD Corp Board
- HRD Corp amended its key performance indicator (KPI) goals for 2023 without the approval of its Board of Directors.
- 20 of the 30 KPIs set for the years 2020 to 2022 were also amended without the board’s green light.
- No Bank Negara (Central Bank) representative on the Board since 2017 in violation of the PSMB Act 200
Faridah Hameed, a coach for business leaders, made these observations in her LinkedIn post that overall “HRD Corp governance is unsatisfactory, according to Faridah’s LinkedIn posting.
In her post on 4th July 2024, she added: “This story just broke -- the latest Auditor-General's and Public Accounts Committee reports about HRD Corp Malaysia. The entity that includes maintaining corporate governance in Malaysia. All I can say is Wow!”
Meanwhile, the Auditor-General’s Department urged the Human Resources Ministry to refer the management of Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) to the relevant enforcement agencies after it failed its audit.
Over the recent years, trainers have expressed “a lot of unhappiness brewing but were scared to say anything for fear of being blacklisted. I have heard so many stories that I cannot repeat. I am not HRD Corp accredited. I can start the conversation - and not be blacklisted. Let's hope there is a top-to-bottom review of the entire organization,” said a leading senior trainer.
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, adjunct professor and undercover journalist. He has freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns.
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