FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS: Sports ministry’s audit reveals discrepancies
THE Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) faces suspension after the sports ministry’s audit unit discovered discrepancies following an audit of the national body’s accounts two weeks ago.The MNCF’s fate is now in the hands of the Sports Advisory Panel (SAP) chaired by Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid.
The SAP will meet on Tuesday to decide on the recommendations for further action to Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy indicated that although the auditors have discovered financial misconduct, he would prefer the issue to be resolved within the jurisdiction of the sports ministry unless advised otherwise by the SAP.
“The audit has been completed and I’ve seen the detailed report, but as in all audits, it isn’t fair to the audited party for us to take action based on that.
“We’ve discovered various weaknesses and the MNCF has requested time to rectify the weaknesses via an extraordinary general meeting and so on,” said Khairy.
According to Khairy, Sports Commissioner Ahmad Shapawi Ismail had recommended that MNCF be given six months to rectify its weaknesses following a meeting between the national body’s office bearers and the ministry’s audit unit last week.
“But these are weaknesses which I don’t see how they can be rectified by time.
“For example, if they couldn’t provide receipts and supporting documents of expenditure, then they just don’t have it.
“Whether you give them six months or more, it will be the same outcome,” said Khairy.
“So, to be fair to the MNCF, we’ve given them two months to rectify some weaknesses.”
Having said that, Khairy will leave the final word to the SAP, stopping short of agreeing to suggestions that the case may be serious enough to bring in the police and Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).
“If the SAP feels that the case is that serious and it requires action beyond the sports ministry, then they should just make that recommendation to me,” said Khairy.
The MNCF’s accounts came under scrutiny after Khairy called for an audit of its accounts on Jan 16, following another failure of the ministry-backed national road programme at the Sea Games in Myanmar last December.
The MNCF had received funding of between RM1.7 and RM2.95 million from the ministry for its road programme since 2011.
But the audit into the MNCF’s accounts revealed discrepancies beyond the funding of the road programme and included funds received from the annual budgets for Le Tour de Langkawi.
Comments
Post a Comment