HRDF headquarters raided by police

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KUCHING: A team of police officers from Bukit Aman conducted a raid today at the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) headquarters in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.

According to news sources, the raid which started this morning is still ongoing at time of writing and is believed to be related to an ongoing probe on the misappropriation of funds and abuse of power at HRDF.

The agency has been under scrutiny by authorities when current Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran announced back in November that high-ranking staff of HRDF misappropriated more than RM100 million in the fund.

The fund is also allegedly involved in several wrongdoings, such as abuse of duties, criminal breach of trust and the acting beyond prescribed procedure without reports to the board of directors.

Kulasegaran had set up a five-member independent governance oversight committee (GOC) to review and probe the allegations.

Earlier this week on Wednesday (Jan 9), The Star had also reported that HRDF allegedly bought a RM154 million six-storey property in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur back in 2015 without the knowledge of its board or investment panel.

The Star report also alleged that the agency board’s approval was for the purchase of another building in the same area for a pre-GST price of RM141 million.

A source quoted in the report indicated that the change of property to be acquired was approved by the previous Minister of Human Resources.

The HRDF is an agency parked under the Human Resources Ministry that is tasked by the federal government aim to develop quality human capital and a world-class workforce in order for Malaysia to achieve a high income economy based on knowledge and innovation.