Officer who stole close to RM1 million in unclaimed money got off scot free, reports Auditor-General

TMI

No action was taken against a civil servant who embezzled almost RM1 million, says the Auditor-General.

A civil servant who had embezzled nearly RM1 million in unclaimed money from the Accountant-General’s Department was let off despite several police reports, the 2013 Auditor-General’s (A-G) Report said.The third series of the report found that police reports had been lodged against the officer on two occasions, namely on March 3 and March 10 in 2011, after the losses were discovered.

The officer had made off with unclaimed money totalling RM995,031.

“An officer has conducted fraud and misappropriation of funds from August 27, 2008, to December 21, 2010, involving RM995,031 in unclaimed money and no legal action has been taken despite police reports lodged against him.

“The losses were also reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on March 11 the same year,” said the A-G report.

The report, which was released in Parliament today, noted that police have completed their investigation on the case.

The investigation papers had been sent to the Attorney-General’s Chambers with a recommendation to charge the suspect for falsifying accounts under Section 477A of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of a maximum of seven years jail, a fine or both.

An investigation committee set up to probe the incident found that the suspect is a Grade N17 administrative clerk with the Accountant-General Department’s Trust and Securities Management division.

They also found that the the officer had falsified supporting documents for money categorised as “improper payments” amounting to RM827,781.46.

The officer had also made payments totalling RM106,955.35 to various individuals while  it could not be established whether the balance amount of RM60,294.50 were genuine payments.

All the money was transferred via Electronic Fund Transfer.

Despite being recommended to be sacked and fined by the investigation panel on April 22, 2011, the A-G report found that the officer was instead transferred to the Accounting Development and Management Division effective January 9, 2012.

In March last year, the Finance Ministry gave its approval to write off the RM995,031 lost but issued a directive that disciplinary action and a surcharge be taken against the officer.