NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY (Slogan of AirAsia)
NOW EVERYONE CAN BE AN AUDITOR (Slogan of Malaysia?)
We once thought that you would have to go through stringent training to be a pilot to fly a plane.
We also thought that you would have to go through strenuous accounting training to be an accountant or auditor.
Little did we know that one would not be rquired to have any accounting or auditing training to be an auditor. Malaysia has made that possible.
Enter Madinah Mohamad who is now holding the highest governmental audit position as the Malaysian auditor general. Although she has worked in several governmental positions but none related to audit, accounting, economics or commerce. Her academic qualifications are human resource and political science. With due respect, she gains little confidence from the peole, if any, that she is qualified or capable to carry out her audit job scope.
In the legal fraternity, there is a saying that 'justice must be done and justice must be seen to be done'. I will say here that 'audit must be done and audit must be seen to be done'. You can not possibly believe that a proper audit can be done or seen to be done by Madinah, can you?
Madinah has nonetheless been officially appointed by Najib Razak, prime minister of Malaysia (aka MO1 or Malaysian Official 1). This country, with MO1 as its leader, has created history by appointing for the first time ever someone with no accounting or auditing background as the auditor general.
Upon investigation, Madinah is found to be the beloved wife of MO1's staunch supporter cum politician, Rizuan Abdul Hamid, who has openly declared that he would die for MO1. Conflict of interest?
The irony is that Malaysian listed companies are required to have an audit committee with someone having accounting or auditing qualification as the chairman of the committee to safeguard good governance and ensure proper audit work is done on the company's activities. However, the head of its governmental audit institution does not have to be an accountant or auditor.
MO1 has swiftly replaced several key posts of crucial governmental agencies in Malaysia since the debacle of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) surfaced internationally due to probes and prosecutions against 1MDB and its connected persons for offences related to money-laundry and corruption in the USA, Switzerland, Singapore, the UK, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, etc. 1MDB was is brainchild of MO1. Jho Low (Low Taek Jho) who is allegedly hiding in Taiwan now has helped MO1 'illegally' move many billion US Dollars out of Malaysia and shift the money around the world to eliminate traces and avoid detection.
In his wish to cover up 1MDB scandals in Malaysia, the chiefs of the following regulatory institutions, which could have or could potentially investigate 1MDB transactions, have all been replaced by MO1 in the last 2 years:
- Attorney General, Malaysia
- Governor of Bank Negara, central bank of Malaysia,
- Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission
- Auditor General, Malaysia
Supporters of MO1 claimed that Madinah would be assisted by a large team of competent auditors in her office at national audit department. We agree but why none of these competent auditors is promoted? Adding insult to injury, they are now forced to assist an incompetent person. Imagine you sit on a plane where the pilot is not qualified to fly. Do you feel safe?
Supporters of MO1 also claimed that Indonesia and Singapore have once appointed non-accounting or non-auditing person to be auditor general. Indonesia and Singapore were not known for the independence of their auditor general. Why do they compare Malaysia with the weakest of all other ruling governments when it comes to governmental governance. MO1's supporters might as well say that North Korea does not even have an auditor general and Malaysia does not require one too. Why bother, right?
The media in Malaysia, under the control of MO1's ruling party, has vigorously black-out all unfavorable news emanating from 1MDB. The people in the USA, UK, Singapore or even China would probably know more about the scandalous details of 1MDB than Malaysians now.
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