KUALA LUMPUR – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called on the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD) to review the relevance of the National Professors Council (NPC), following findings that questioned its effectiveness.
PAC chair Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Masjid Tanah-PN) stated that investigations revealed the council’s contributions and functionality could not be properly evaluated due to the absence of established key performance indicators (KPIs) reported to the PMD.
“The PMD must study whether NPC’s existence is still relevant in providing the government with academic expertise to develop the nation,” the Bersatu lawmaker told a press conference in Parliament today after PAC’s report on the NPC was presented in Parliament today.
“If the government decides to maintain NPC’s (status) as a CLBG (company limited by guarantee), the council should be parked under the Higher Education Ministry, based on its functions and role.”
Mas also highlighted that the PMD would need to report back to the PAC on its decision during follow-up proceedings and recommended the department introduce standard operating procedures for oversight of companies under its purview.
While the NPC is currently under the PMD, it reports to the higher education minister, who serves as the council’s adviser. Established in 2010 as a special programme under the Higher Education Ministry, the council was restructured as a CLBG in 2014 and transferred to the PMD.
In 2018, the administration led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ordered its dissolution, but the council operated independently through self-funding until its re-recognition under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government in November 2021.
Mas pointed out that PMD’s oversight of the NPC had been insufficient, leading to irregularities in management.
“There have been no reports on NPC’s activities to the PMD, resulting in (PMD’s) failure to implement full control and monitoring measures,” she said, noting that the council’s amended articles of association allowed for no government representative in its board of trustees.
NPC, however, had continued to use its amended articles of association when it resumed receiving government funds in 2021, with Mas saying that the lack of a government representative in the council’s board of trustees played a key role in how NPC’s operations and financial activities went unmonitored by Putrajaya.
She also said that NPC should appoint a competent company secretary to ensure the council’s smooth governance, especially in terms of complying with relevant company laws.
Mas added that between 2022 and 2023, NPC had paid large allowances totalling RM207,000, sourced from a RM7.78 million government grant, to its board of trustees without ministerial approval.
PAC had conducted proceedings into NPC after the Auditor-General (A-G) Department 2/2024 Report, released on July 4, raised red flags on the council’s operations and financial dealings while calling for a “thorough overhaul” of the council’s management.
The audit report also found that RM373,516 of NPC funds were used to pay the operations of two companies whose shares were held by two members of the council’s board of trustees, who had failed to declare their interests in the two companies.
The two companies, MPN Global Reach Sdn Bhd and Thinkers Consultancy Sdn Bhd, were also mentioned in PAC’s report, which added that the two entities had operated on and used facilities at NPC’s premises while staffers were shared between all three companies.
Following the release of the audit report, various quarters had called for the government to dissolve the NPC, asserting that such a move would save public funds which could then be directed to expenses for the people’s welfare.
The audit and PAC report’s scope was on NPC’s activities from 2019 to 2023. – November 7, 2024
