PKR's Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has questioned whether Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin could guarantee that the ministry would not be caught incurring questionable expenses in the 2013 Audit Report.

NONEWhile praising Khairy for accepting responsibility over the RM1.6 million payment the ministry had dished out  for a K-Pop concert during a national Youth Day celebration last year, Nik Nazmi (right) asked if Khairy could guarantee no repeat of such incidents in the next Audit Report.

Khairy took office as the new youth and sports minister after the general election in May.

The K-Pop concert payment was made while the ministry was under the watch of his predecessor, Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

“I would like to know if the honourable minister is ready to assure the Malaysian public that his ministry will no longer be caught incurring questionable transactions for the 2013 Audit which will be released in 2014.

"Especially so in the periods after May 2013, when he was appointed minister,” Nik Nazmi, who is also the deputy speaker for the Selangor state assembly, said in a statement today.

Nik Nazmi questioned the contradicting statements made by Khairy, who admitted that his ministry paid for the concert, and Shabery, who still insisted that sponsors paid for it.

"I would like to know who is correct in the K-Pop concert debacle – the auditor-general and the present Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who claimed that the ministry had to eventually pay for the concert; or Khairy’s predecessor Ahmad Shabery Cheek who claimed that it was funded from sponsors through the Majlis Sukan Negara (National Sports Council account?" Nik Nazmi asked.

He also said that even if audit reports are conducted three times  a year, a lack of political will means that the same discrepancies could be found in audit reports year in, year out.

“While the Auditor-General’s Report may cast a light on wastefulness and systemic failures, it is also a good opportunity for the government to reflect upon its policy choices and its impact on ordinary Malaysians,” he said.


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