Five-member oversight panel for HRDF review

> Veteran journalist R. Nadeswaran among the committee which will look into allegations of wrongdoing and its governance framework

KUALA LUMPUR: A five-member independent governance oversight committee, which includes former MInistry of International Trade and Industry secretary-general Tan Sri Rebecca Sta Maria and veteran journalist R. Nadeswaran, have been appointed to conduct a thorough review of the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) amid allegations of discrepancies.

The board of directors of HRDF have also seen the entry of five new members, which include the acting CEO Lim Kah Cheng, making it a 15 member board.

“The governance oversight committee has been given the mandate to assist the HRDF board of directors. It is tasked with oversight responsibilities, which include reviewing all aspects of the board’s governance framework and ensuring it functions in an effective and efficient manner to support the operations of HRDF,” Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran told reporters after HRDF’s AGM yesterday.

The oversight committee will also look into matters pertaining to allegations of misappropriation of funds and other matters raised by stakeholders and the amendments of the PSMB Act 2001 among others and will have access to company records.

Other members of the newly formed committee are debt restructuring and recovery professional, Fiona Soh, partner at Messrs Fahri &Co, Fahri Azzat, and associate at Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, M Dhamodaran.

Noting that HRDF plays a major role in reskilling and upskilling employees, Kula said it is crucial to ensure that the modus operandi of the organisation is as transparent as possible and contributors are assured that every sen is accounted for.

The appointment came on the heel of a town hall session held earlier this month which saw disgruntled training providers taking the management to task.

Last week, the former CEO CM Vignaesvaran Jeyandaran who was also a board member announced his resignation. Prior to that, three board members namely Federation of Malaysian Training Providers and Technical and Vocational Training Associations president R.A Thiagaraja, Ganesh Kumar Bangah who represents the National ICT Association of Malaysia and Sarojini Ruth Rajahser of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia tendered their resignations.

Kula confirmed that he had accepted all of the resignations.

He added that contributing members were “unhappy” with the present external auditors and plan to get a new one. According to HRDF’s 2016 annual report, PricewaterhouseCoopers served as the auditor.