Punitive warnings for civil servants doubled in AG's Report 2015, says Ali Hamsa

PUTRAJAYA: The number of punitive warnings issued against government servants in the 2015 Auditor-General's Report (Series 1 & 2) was almost double that of the previous year, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa (pix).
He added 85 punitive warnings were issued in 2015 compared to 49 in 2014.
"The increase in punitive warnings was due to the auditing being done across the board involving revenue management, resulting in the increase of ministries, departments and agencies being audited.
"The auditing included government projects worth more than RM100 million and considered 'high impact' with focus on problematic projects," he said at a session with the media following the release of the AG's Report 2015 Series 2.
Ali noted that the 85 punitive warnings made up only 5% of the 1,695 warnings issued by the Public Services Department following the publication of the two series of the 2015 AG's Report.
He said 95.6% or 1,610 warnings were corrective warnings which are made to improve the system and procedure.
Punitive warnings are issued for matters related to embezzlement, abuse of power, misconduct or negligence in the execution of duties.
Of the 42 punitive warnings in the report's second series, Ali said PSD initiated disciplinary proceedings against 19 officers from 18 punitive warnings, while eight warnings had no elements of fraud, abuse of power, misconduct or negligence.
The remaining 16 punitive warnings are still being investigated, one of which by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).
The case is related to the Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme under the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry.
He said of the 18 punitive warnings, 10 were for the management of Federal Land Development Authority and its subsidiaries and two for Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's revenue management.
There was enough basis for disciplinary proceedings to be initiated against nine officers in those cases, he said.