AG's Report-Nothing New

The STAR wrote today that "The Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board" has not turned in a single ringgit of profit despite making investments of RM41.9mil since its inception in January 1976.The Auditor-General’s Report revealed that the ministry’s subsidiary Pembangunan Pelancongan Nasional Sdn Bhd (Pempena) had not done due diligence before making its investments. Why are we suprised by this report, it is not new in Malaysia where accountability is just a passing statement!

The report also found that seven subsidiary and 17 associated companies under Pempena suffered cumulative losses of RM32.37mil until Dec 31 last year with only one company, the Malaysian Travel Business Sdn Bhd, made a profit of RM438,240 in 2007 after taxes.According to the report, Pempena would record RM40.03mil in overall losses from its investments and initial capital outlay of RM52.86mil for the 24 entities.

The reason cited was that “Pempena has made investments in subsidiary companies that are not viable because it has not done due diligence as a whole before making the investments,” the report said. It added that Pempena’s investments in its seven subsidiary companies and 17 associated companies were not presented and discussed with the board prior to approval.

The board in reply said it would report to the Finance or Tourism Ministry to withdraw the Government’s investments from subsidiaries that failed to declare dividends for three consecutive years. This is another eye washing statement by those resposnible just like the last years report on the

In its response, the board said it would form investment committees on “project basis” if its subsidiaries decided to make new investments.“The audit also found that the board did not have any long-term and short-term strategic plans for the entire organisation,” it said. This is how indeed even the country is managed i.e PKFZ, Sukhoi & Submarines!

Should'nt the entire board be sacked? Just in our wildest dreams will it ever happen in Malaysia. 1 Malaysia; Rakyat diutamakan dan duit di boloskan!(People First and Money Whacked)