KUALA LUMPUR: Civil servants responsible for wastage and leakages should be sacked immediately to set an example for others, says former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.

Daim said issuing warnings to such staff was pointless as the Auditor-General’s (AG) Report over the years had revealed various wastages and leakages within government departments and agencies.

“Putrajaya must set an example for all civil servants to follow and abide. Otherwise, wastage, leakage and embezzlement will continue,” Daim said. “Those who are errant or lax in carrying out their duties responsibly must be disciplined. Problems arise when there is no discipline,” he said.

Daim said the AG’s Report had shown that money was just being wasted without proper accountability, hence these civil servants should just be sacked. He said the government must also be swift in meting out the punishment and give these errant staff their marching orders since there was no point in retaining them as they would tarnish the reputation and image of the service.

Daim was speaking to reporters yesterday after launching the book The Colour of Inequality at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation in Jalan Duta here.

On Monday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expressed shock at the number of government ministries involved in the wastage of public resources.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said 13 ministries and two agencies will be called up to account for mismanagement and leakage.

This was based on the findings in the third instalment of the AG’s Report which was released in Parliament on Monday.

The ministries include the Education Ministry for wastage in the 1BestariNet e-learning project and the Health Ministry over the construction of a hospital in Shah Alam.

The PAC’s inquiry proceedings are to begin at the next Parliament session next year.

“We were also shocked. This time there were many issues that seemed serious enough for us to call them up,” Nur Jazlan said. “The increase in number of ministries could be because the audit was done at the same time as the tabling of the budget in Parliament,” the Pulai MP said. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 12, 2014.