PETALING JAYA: The 2024 Auditor-General’s report confirmed that a total of RM205.42 million in “mandatory levies” by employers were owed to the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp).
The report said that 21,058 employers owed HRD Corp the levies that were meant for the corporation’s training programmes.
The A-G’s report also noted an increase in outstanding levies year-on-year from RM72.47 million recorded in 2020 to RM96 million in 2021, RM141.77 million in 2022 and RM183.87 million in 2023.
Furthermore, inactive employers whose companies had closed down or dissolved owed RM21.55 million in levies on top of the 2023 outstanding levies.
However, it was clarified by HRD Corp that the hike in outstanding levies was partially due to the scope expansion of the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad Act 2001 from March 2021.
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The corporation pointed out that many employers were “unaware”, as quoted, of the levy payments while some cited financial troubles or were rebuilding their business after the Movement Control Order (MCO) caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Civil action commenced in November 2022 and employers showed a positive response by requesting to pay the outstanding amounts in monthly instalments,” HRD Corp stated in response to the findings.
But the A-G’s report mentioned that the corporation did not collect the levies, pointing out that the more uncollected levies increase, the more the government is affected thereby undermining the company’s goal of training and developing employees.
The report added that HRD Corp had amended its key performance indicator (KPI) goals for 2023 without getting any approval from the company’s board of directors, with also 20 out of 30 KPIs for 2020 to 2022 were amended without the board’s green light.
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