Guan Eng orders Finance Ministry probe into Bernama

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Lim Guan Eng

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday he had instructed the ministry to investigate a claim about the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) having used the contributions meant for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to pay the July salary of its staff.

He said the probe was necessary to determine who should assume responsibility for this serious situation and also for restricting the payment of the EPF contributions so that appropriate action could be taken.

“This raises the question of whether the money that should have been allocated for emoluments, salaries and EPF contributions, has been ‘diverted’ by Bernama to make other payments,” he said in a statement.

Lim said the Finance Ministry took a serious view of the claim, given that the facts pertaining to the issue were to the contrary.

“If the July salary could not be paid because the grant from the Finance Ministry had not been received, why did the Finance Ministry only receive the application letter dated July 19, 2019, on July 22, 2019?” he enquired.

According to a news portal report Friday, Bernama allegedly faced financial constraints which affected the contributions to the EPF and the repayment of loans of the staff, despite the salary deductions having been made.

Lim said the claim that the government was facing financial constraints so much so that EPF contributions could not be made was ‘baseless’ because the Finance Ministry had always placed priority on the payment of salaries and contributions to the EPF.

He said sufficient allocations had always been given for emoluments and salaries so that the emoluments could be paid earlier than other payments.

Lim emphasised that the federal government was not bankrupt like certain state governments, which could not afford to pay the salary of their administrative staff.

“Such a report that is contrary to the facts has indeed tarnished the image of the Finance Ministry, which is often blamed when a ministry or agency experiences a budget overrun and tries to find reasons other than their own failure to manage their finances well,” he said. — Bernama