PKR MP criticises Selangor govt over unfair, improper audit
Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen says it’s a mystery how state treasury made audit without visiting office, and also slams ‘no response’ to all queries pertaining to findings
(FMT) – Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen has criticised the Selangor government over what he sees as a lack of transparent, fair and proper handling of an audit on the spending of the annual RM250,000 budget allocation to his office.
The PKR man decided to make a public disclosure of the audit findings and the lack of answers from the Selangor state treasury despite repeated queries from him and his staff.
“We strongly object to all the audit findings, which in our opinion, some are completely baseless and some can be clarified easily by asking my staff and requesting for documents.
“Instead of carrying out a proper, transparent and fair audit, this mystery audit rushed to findings without due process to paint an untrue picture of my office’s administration.”
Explaining the facts and chronology of events, Wong Chen said the state treasury said it had audited his office accounts in May 2016 and sent a copy of the audit findings to his office nine months later.
“The Selangor State Treasury in a letter dated Feb 2, 2017 addressed to the Petaling District and Land Office attached an audit report of the 2014 and 2015 spending of my P104 Kelana Jaya office. A copy of the letter and attached audit report was delivered to my office on Feb 8, 2017.
“The state treasury stated that they did an audit on my office on May 1-3 last year. However, at all material times, my office was not aware of the audit, as they did not visit our office. The audit was done mysteriously and without due process and natural justice,” Wong Chen said.
He added that the audit findings allege that his office had failed to follow some guidelines.
Wong Chen stressed however, that there are absolutely no allegations of misappropriation or corrupt practices in the audit findings.
“Still, I feel strongly that my office has been denied natural justice and the right to be heard regarding the audit findings of not complying with guidelines.
“Which is why my office immediately challenged the audit findings and provided a point by point rebuttal and also 4,000 pages of documents. My office also wrote four letters to the Selangor government authorities, all of which remain unanswered,” he said, explaining why he decided to go public on his grouse with the state government.
“After receiving no action and no reply to my letters, my office issued a notice to the Selangor State Treasury that if it fails to either (a) retract the audit findings, or (b) conduct a fair and proper audit within 14 days, I will go public on the matter to defend the honour of my staff and my office.”
Wong Chen said the mystery over the audit deepened when he found out in a meeting with Petaling District and Land Office district officer Mohd Misri on Feb 27 this year that the state treasury had also not visited their office to conduct any audit pertaining to the Kelana Jaya constituency.
The first-time MP defended all expenditure by his office stating that all files were meticulously stored, with every record entered into the computer, helping to immediately extract the files, analyse them, and give a point by point rebuttal reply to all the audit findings.
He said this was why despite every effort in providing feedback, documents and the response to all the audit findings, he was shocked when he heard from PKR colleagues earlier this month that his office had failed an audit.
“I have written four letters to the authorities on this matter and received not a single official reply. I am not sure what the Selangor government protocol is when it comes to replying to letters from MPs in Selangor, but this stonewalling attitude is highly unprofessional and disappointing, to say the least.”
Wong Chen said, he had also briefed his party leaders, including Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is also PKR deputy president of his public disclosure on this audit issue.
