Second Finance
Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon, in the state assembly today, clarified claims
made by Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen on RM250 million minor rural projects
fund.
I would now move on to clarify some of the allegations
made by honourable member from the opposition from the DAP.
According to Treasury Instruction 6(ii) which stipulates
“that any money appropriated for a particular purpose in the warrant shall be
surrendered to the Consolidated Fund if not spent on that purpose during the
period for which it was granted” - Wong Soon Koh (picture, left)
First, on the baseless allegation made by the member for
Kota Sentosa that a huge sum of RM250 million approved by this august House for
Minor Rural Project in 2015 has obviously, I quote, “gone missing and not
accounted for”.
I wish to inform this august House that for 2015, the
revised budget of RM905.9 million inclusive of the approved supplementary of
RM250 million was meant for the implementation of both Minor Rural Project and
Rural Transformation Projects.
For the information of the honourable members, annual
budget is just a provision and an allocation to enable us to implement approved
programmes and projects.
Pursuant to Section 8 and Section 9 of the Development
Fund Act 1966, before any expenditure can be committed, a warrant shall be
issued to authorize allocation for expenditure form Development Fund Account.
Pursuant to Section 7 of the same Act, every
appropriation for development purposes shall laps and cease to have any effect
at the close of one calendar month following the financial year and no payment
shall be made of the appropriation during that month except in respect of work
performed, goods delivered, services rendered or any other contractual
arrangement made prior to the end of that year and properly chargeable to the
accounts of that year.
According to Treasury Instruction 6(ii) which stipulates
“that any money appropriated for a particular purpose in the warrant shall be
surrendered to the Consolidated Fund if not spent on that purpose during the
period for which it was granted”.
Upon the closing of 2015 accounts, an amount of RM572.8
million was spent while the unutilized allocation of RM333.1 million has, in
fact, remained intact in the Consolidation Fund.
The provision or allocation for a particular programme or
project may be partially spent or remain unspent due to the followings:-
(a) Saving arising from actual project cost is lower that
the estimated cost;
(b) Late commencement of project due to various issues
such as planning or land or site issues;
(c) Project was cancelled or postponed due to various
factors such as change in plan or change in scope or cost factor.
I wish to highlight that the State Public Accounts for
2015 has been duly audited and accorded with a Clean Bill of Health by the
Auditor General Malaysia.
In summary, we have complied fully with the relevant
financial rules and regulations.
The allegations made by the member for Kota Sentosa, that
RM250 million has obviously gone missing and not accounted for was totally
baseless.
This again shows the ignorance of financial procedure and
regulation. All I can say is that this is his habitual attempt to tarnish the
image of our Chief Minister and to discredit the State Financial Management in
order to promote his political agenda.
His action must be seen to have abused the privilege
accorded to him as a Member of the Dewan. His action constituted contempt of
the Dewan under Section 24(2)(0) of the Dewan Undangan Negeri (Privileges and
Powers) Ordinance 2007 and had to be dealt with severely.
A motion was therefore moved to suspend him immediately
on the day and he be suspended for the rest of the session.
We have no choice but to do so in order to uphold the
decorum and good parliamentary practices and tradition of this august House. -
November 29, 2016
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