I am going to paste the whole news article from The Star Online here.
PETALING JAYA: Would you pay RM224 for a set of four screwdrivers?
Probably not, but that was what the Government paid to supply tools for students at the eight National Youth Skills Institutes (IKBN) around the country, according to the Auditor-General’s (AG) report.
The AG said the screwdrivers had a market price of RM40 and according to pictures in the report, resembled the average Philips screwdrivers you could buy in any hardware shop.
And it does not stop there – the AG went a step further by examining the prices paid for 12 other tools and equipment bought for the IKBN project, comparing it with market prices when the procurement was done in late 2002.
Among these were technical books consisting 10 titles that had a price tag of RM10,700 and a 3.1 megapixel digital camera that was bought for RM8,254.
For the 13 items that the report highlighted, the Government paid RM8.39mil more than the market price at that time.
According to the report, consultants for the Youth and Sports Ministry had reached an estimated price tag of RM399.67mil for the equipment for the IKBN project which later ballooned to RM767.98mil after two appeals by the ministry for additional allocations.
“The ministry said more money was needed in anticipation of a bigger student population and that getting equipment from the same supplier meant prices would remain the same.
“But there was no proof that market research was done to identify the prices of the items and equipment because minutes for the negotiation meetings were not prepared,” the report said.
It said without the minutes, the auditing team was unable to find out if efforts were made to reduce prices.
The AG also said that the ministry’s secretary-general (KSU) had signed off 11 contracts worth between RM7.99mil and RM74.2mil that were related to the IKBN project, on behalf of the Government.
“The KSU only has the authority to sign contracts worth less than RM5mil. Anything larger should be signed by the minister or someone to whom the authority has been given.
“However, during the audit, no such letter giving the authority to the KSU presented itself,” the report said.
The report said there were also discrepancies such as one supplier being paid more than the other for exactly the same equipment.
One example the AG highlighted showed one supplier getting RM1.24mil more than the other for identical engineering equipment.
(photo stolen from lenglui Eve aka apple4today)
All of us, i.e. the rakyat and the taxpayers can say is : SCREW YOU, YOUTH & SPORTS MINISTRY AND ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE. INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT.
Remember to read this article as well :
The Chinese discontent is very real and will have an impact on seats with a big Chinese population but a sizeable number of Umno-held seats may also be at stake.
wahhh…if I am that hardware supplier, I kaya lor!!!
AhPek – And I really really wanna ‘khau’ you liao. Hahaha.
Ah Pek: If I know you are that hardware supplier, I would FUCKING KILL you for cheating my tax money!!!
That was how MAS lost money.
That is how sinisters have properties overseas, nasi kandar restaurants overseas and credit suisse accounts.
This will be another ‘the rakyat will lupa in a few days’ issue.
What the fark happened to the enforcing of buses issue lah?
KITA MUDAH LUPA! MALAYSIA BOLEH!
Losha- Why would you wanna farking kill Ah Pek? You wanna be farked by him then you kill him ar? Read the farking post lah, you farking idiot!!!
The gomen is cheating you. Not the supplier lah. Stupid idiot!!!
Flame! Flame! Flame!
terence – Wei, what they feed you on your birthday lah? You want me to light up another 56 candles or not?
Ah Seng – My herrrro.
terence – No wonder our Pee Emm cabut pergi Ostrolia. When he comes back, dust settled.
Losha – Sorry to burst your bubble. But that’s not how things operate. It is not the hardware shop. If it is, we will all be very rich rakyat. It is the farking Government who mengelapkan duit itu semua. Then, look at the quality of our sportsmen nowadays. Government pump in millions $$. BTW, the money comes from us poor rakyat who pay the taxes. Then, the millions $$ most probably did not go into grooming our sportsmans but instead masuk poket dia orang. Boleh faham? Or do you want to me explain in Hokkien, Cantonese or Bahasa Malaysia, in a podcast? Which part of politics you don’t understand?
relax lah … this is Malaysian culture ! what so worry … the whole country act in this way, so now it’s a matter of who doesn’t take bribery or doing the wrong thing , he must be insane …
that’s the reason everywhere i go in Malaysia, ppl keep thinking of doing things the easy way out, like cheating company $, runaway from tax, cheat consumer, illegal betting, SMS scam .. etc
it’s the culture that has been cultivate by the leader of this country …
sad but true … i’m lovin it !
Bloody $%)#*#&%(!!@@$$. That’s where our tax $$ went to? KKNCCB!! Morons.
Now I know why there’s still so many poor people out there!! What a way to give Malaysia the Oomph for Visit Malaysia 2007. I wonder if the tourists read this what will they think of the country.
I bet the minister will come out and explain that the 3.1mp digital camera very high tech wan, got GPS lah, can watch satellite TV, built in Bose speaker, and it’s a Transformer. That’s why so expensive lah. Ptui!
gahmen chiak lui (hokkien) la..
is so very, very sad!
it is our money, our contribution! we worked our arses off n pay taxes dutifully year in, year out! and we are ‘robbed in broad daylight’.
the money is to develop the country (for our children) n not to fatten some individuals pockets!!!!!!!
this A-G’s report put it out in black n white, shouldnt someone be made to answer to this! and from my memory, this is not the first time!
to date; we make a lot of noise, but what can we do about it?
i ‘cry’, not for the lost money; but for the country, there is no accountability!
is really going to the dogs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
erin – Yayaya, chiak chin cheh lui
bryan – Morning morning I see also want to vomit blood liao. And maybe this is considered a small case, who knows what else not revealed.
seaqueen – So angry hor? All tok kok but the sports standard every year gets worse. Remember the sports training complex in overseas?
abu – Ya
Lemme tell you something, the IKBN in Miri, the area is as big as TAR College in Setapak, KL, including hostels and football fields, but their student numbers is about less than 200.
What is the point of building IKBN that big? Too much land?
Somemore, the workshop in their institution, I’ve actually been there, all of them uses the most expensive tools/equipment they can get on the market.
And the lecturers/office personnels? They work as what namewee had describe in his negarakuku songs. Ya know what I mean. All the kuih-muih come out….ya know…
I see *fun* soon?
Revealing the IKBN conspiracy.
Why do they need Stanley brand screwdriver in the first place? Made in China one cannot use?
8k for a 3.1 megapixel kamera? The camera made of gold, titanium, plutonium and diamond issit? I guess they need quality screwdrivers to screw their backside! 😛
“And just as in 1999 when the Malays rebelled against Umno and the Chinese vote saved the day for the Barisan, this election will see Malays holding the fort.
But the reality is that even with the Chinese discontent, the opposition is nowhere near to denying the Barisan the two-thirds majority. “….
so jocelin is saying that things will remain the way it is eh? very different approach from her since she has always been on the i-am-writing-this-with-a-hope-of-datukship ….
terence is right… this is how MAS lose money. i am actually very surprise that mainstream media is actually reporting this. someone is going to go down…
the figure itself can make anyone of us vomit blood.
eh..the photo not showing..?
Eve – I steal and keep in my Flickr liao. So appropriate for this case.
zewt – LOL, Terence is going to say ‘Terence is ALWAYS right’
anthraxxx – Go back and blog about this puhleez, let’s get the words out. Cos I see very few people bitch about it.
alexallied – Baru can produce jaguh kampung. Talk about waste of fund, my #2 can tell you. They have huge Rakan Muda complex with best facilities like hostels and etc. But always tutup cos bad management and even worse maintenance.
#2 – I edited your comment. People, see? I very fair, my own son’s comment I oso edited. (the word between the *)
It’s not strange these “over priced” items are happening. Most big corporations have a system of getting these “vendors”. Basically, it should be on “per value” basis, but most had to with connections.
However, the difference is, companies policy is based on payment from company. Government’s is from the tax payor’s money.
This shouldn’t be the first time if Auditor General does it annually but it happens anyway. Now that it’s on front page, some people will get the “fall”.
RM2 store got one set six screw drivers for only RM2 neh.
As a Christian, I feel even more sakit hati by this wastage because as it is, we are merely stewards, tukang jaga of all that is in this earth, and for this people, who are even more of stewards, stewards of the work that went into the making of the Malaysian taxpayers’ money, can waste it in this sickening way is really…
Sakit hati more than anything, really.
if dun jack how to earn money jek?
the last round of banjir, my supplier told me….O i give u this price cheap cheap only, minister X asked me to bill 38 for this same t shirt to donate to the mangsa banjir u know….u know how much he charged me for it? 10 bucks. 28 frigging extra bucks dunno go where leh?
On the contrary, both the people in the government and the supplier gets a cut. It takes two hands to clap.
It would be stupid to presume the hardware supplier does not get a cut.
losha – You got nothing better to do issit? Who cares who get what cut? It is our tax payers money. So, do you pay tax? Do you feel the pain? You think a random person can be supplier issit? You don’t know Ahpek’s relation to me, don’t come meddle between my comment and his, ok?
wat-de-…….. O_o ……
8k+ for a 3.1MP camera????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O_o
*speechless*
Tiap tiap tahun pun sama sama cerita…. tiap tiap tahun pun cakap sama sama cerita…
So, nothing new… no need to get so worked up…. Afterall, the minister of that ministry… apatu.. Youth and Sports ah.. kan perempuan… kan kena guna screw.. oleh itu, kena la bayar premium la… Wahaha…..
well i better go register myself as a voter.fast fast no more procrastination!!!
They put the money into phantom budget KABESA (SSEAYP) already la.
*fun* is already starting!
melvin – High class travel for everyone, right? Well, not everyone, certain ones.
Losha: Tiu, how can you just simply say that? If I am the gomen, of course I’ll look for my supplier kaki to go to when I want to buy that 3.1MP camera for 8k lah. Use brain a little please?
DUA SEN! You owe me.
I’m really shocked when I read the news. It is because when you want to buy something, you need to give more than one quotation to the admin clerk. Then, the clerk will prepare the PO. For amount less than RM 100, you can claim from the petty cash. But for RM101 and more you need to provide the quotation. RM 20k you need to provide 3 quotation. More than that, you need to invite companies to participate in a process known as ‘sebutharga’. Beside the officer ‘favourite’ companies, the admin clerk and also Bendahari/Finance Department will also invite other companies into the process. The ‘sebutharga’ process also known sometimes as closed tender.
But is has its own limits. Sebutharga can only be provided for project less than RM100k. More than that, you need to submit application to Bendahari/Finance Department to do open tender process. This process usually took months to complete hence not many officer like to hold this process.
For IT items like servers, operating systems and etc, you need approval from several federal department and agency such as MAMPU before you can proceed buying the items. Usually, you need to obtain MAMPU approval before the next year ‘pengurusan’ budget.
So, as you can guess, I’m working as public servant. In my department its hard to cheat during the purchase process. If you are not ‘kantoi’ during the purchasing, you will ‘kantoi’ during internal audit process. And usually, for big item purchase, we have a committee from various division in our department to make sure the project will only use the fund allocated. Usually, by the end of the current year, we return back the money to the university. Sometimes up to hundred thousand ringgit because the items that we bought usually less (the price) than what we planned.
So, for the ministry mismanagement of fund, somebody up there is not doing their jobs to prevent the mismanagement from happening. It is really sad when we asked for additional budget for our IT infrastructure from the government and it is rejected because they claim they don’t have money. Now, I know where the money is gone.
rzmie – Hi! Thanks a lot for enlightening me. I have seen many Rakan Muda complexes gone to waste, all the equipments left to rot etc etc. But the investment and the facilities are really impressive. Sayang lah, nice facilities but no maintenance and management. So, I wonder if this rot comes from the previous minister (you know who lah) and rot further under this one? Tonight’s news we see fingers pointing. I wish the top PM will just whack them as warning instead of all those inquiry, committee, dragging feet etc.
LittleRay – Thanks. 😛
Satellite TV users will definitely grow in the following years and also satellite internet users.”,’