PETALING JAYA: When news first broke that all was not well with the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp), no thanks to the 2024 Auditor-General’s Report, the organisation was attacked from all sides.
But soon, it was revealed the report merely highlighted HRD Corp’s investment losses while remaining silent on its unrealised profits, giving the agency, which comes under the Human Resources Ministry, a negative image.
Perhaps Institute of Public Relations Malaysia president Jaffri Amin Osman was spot on when he recently told theSun that the country “is facing increasing tides of misinformation, disinformation and fake news that are being dished out as a daily diet”.
Soon, it was reported the national audit department failed to provide “a true and fair view” of HRD Corp’s investments, according to a reply document on the findings of the Auditor-General’s Report.
Its report did a disservice to HRD Corp when it merely highlighted unrealised losses of RM49 million in investments, without giving equal weight to unrealised profits.
However, according to one media report, a reply document indicated HRD Corp had recorded an unrealised net investment profit of RM69 million as of Dec 31, 2023, based on unrealised profits of RM119 million.
According to HRD Corp’s records, the bulk of its RM3.7 billion investments is in low-risk fixed deposits, bonds, sukuk and unit trusts, with the rest in higher-risk equities that also performed well and provided unrealised returns of almost 11%.
Even its audited financial statements show HRD Corp recorded investment gains of RM82 million in 2020, RM71 million in 2021, RM90 million in 2022 and RM176 million last year, which makes it financially healthy.
However, despite numerous reports claiming that HRD Corp “failed” its audit, this has since been proven untrue based also on its 2023 audit report by leading audit firm BDO.
In its annual report last year, BDO pointed out that HRD Corp had recorded a net surplus of RM81.3 million in the financial year ending December 2023, from RM29.8 million the previous year.
While investment experts and financial gurus are all united in expressing the view that investments are always a risk, where some will gain and some lose, HRD Corp seems to have done consistently well over the years as seen by its investment portfolio and audit reports.
The question is, do Malaysians jump the gun to read too much into alleged “scandals” without ascertaining all the facts first? Apparently so, because according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), it had never claimed that HRD Corp was involved in graft.
Lawyer Amrit Pal Singh called on all parties to calm down and allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to carry out its investigation.
Speaking on the sidelines of a five-man MACC visit to HRD Corp’s office in Jalan Beringin, he said: “Many have made all kinds of allegations although the PAC has never made any allegation that there was graft or mismanagement in HRD Corp.
“Let me be clear. As a lawyer, I wish to stress that our principle is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. We cannot come to conclusions or make judgements based solely on what is said on social media.”
As the days pass, MACC has confirmed it has formed a special task force to probe the findings of the Auditor-General’s Report on HRD Corp.
While Malaysians await with bated breath, one accountant said based on HRD Corp’s performance over the years, it is expected to prove that it has been above board.
“I believe it will come out of this unscathed and continue to make good investments in the future.”
