HRDF chief executive resigns amid fund misappropriation allegations

KUALA LUMPUR: The chief executive of the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) Datuk CM Vignaesvaran Jeyandran has tendered his resignation after the organisation came under fire over allegations of discrepancies and misappropriation of funds.
HRDF said in a statement today that Vignaesvaran's resignation came into effect on Thursday. It is unknown if Vignaesvaran has also stepped down from his position as a member of HRDF's board of directors.
He will be replaced by the fund's deputy CEO Lim Kah Cheng, who will be helming the organisation as acting chief executive.
Human Resource Minister M. Kulasegaran has also directed HRDF to establish a governance oversight committee mandated to assist its board of directors to fulfill its oversight responsibilities.
"The committee shall review all aspects of the board's governance framework to ensure the board functions in an effective and efficient manner, to support the operations of the HRDF," he said in a statement.
Announcement of the members of the committee is expected to be made after HRDF's AGM next week.
HRDF, an agency under the purview of the Human Resources Ministry, said it will continue its mandate to promote efforts to up-skill, re-skill and multi-skill Malaysian talent for global competitiveness.
Kula had previously said that a committee will be set up to look into the resignations of three of its board members amid allegations of RM300 million being misappropriated from the fund.
This came on the heels of a town hall session held on June 7, which saw disgruntled training providers bring up issues of lack of transparency pertaining to tenders, lack of engagement and quality of training providers commissioned by HRDF.
While Federation of Malaysian Training Providers and Technical and Vocational Training Associations (FMTA) president R.A Thiagaraja came forward to reveal himself as being one of the three board members to have tendered their resignation, theSun learnt that the other two board members who had tendered their resignation are Ganesh Kumar Bangah who represents the National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) and Sarojini Ruth Rajahser of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (NAWEM).