Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah has defended the appointment of the contractor chosen by the Finance Minister to build the currently incomplete Bera Hospital. 

Irwan said when the contract was awarded, the Finance Ministry's procurement committee found that Maju Jaya Prasarana Sdn Bhd (MJPSB) was qualified for the job, despite the Public Works Department (PWD) saying otherwise. 

"Whatever the PWD says... the final decision is by the (procurement) committee. 

"We saw, technically... the company was layak (qualified) and the cost (they proposed) also met the cost estimate," he said at a media town hall on the 2016 audit report in Putrajaya today. 

However, he stressed that implementation of the contracts was a different matter, one that required constant review by the government. 

The Bera Hospital - which was supposed to open in Jan 2015 - is currently only 57 percent complete as of last December, with the delays resulting in MJPSB's contract being terminated. 

This was despite at least three red flags raised by the PWD that MJPSB and six other candidates were unqualified and had repeatedly recommended to the Finance Ministry that an open tender be conducted.

According to the 2016 audit report, "YAB Menteri Kewangan (Most Honourable Finance Minister) had on Jan 10, 2012, consented to MJPSB being awarded the contract through direct negotiations". 

YAB is an honorific, which in the cabinet is only used by the prime minister and deputy prime minister. 

Irwan said that any government contracts would be reviewed by the MOF procurement committee, even if there were directives from the prime minister. 

Chief-secretary to the government Ali Hamsa said there would be punitive action on government officers involved in the project, which may result in termination.

However, he did not disclose which department or ministry the officers were from, saying the matter was still under investigation.

Meanwhile on a different matter, Home Ministry secretary-general Alwi Ibrahim said the contracts awarded to a ferry company to deport immigrants, which came under the audit department's scrutiny, were all above board.

However, he said if there were continued problems from the company, Alwi said the ministry would resort to an open tender.

According to the audit report, the contractor had flouted several contractual obligations, including not delivering deported Indonesian migrants to the intended destination. 
 
Meanwhile auditor-general Madinah Mohamad, when asked if the audit proved her critics wrong, said that this wasn't about her.

"This isn't about me, this is about the Audit Department and my team and my officers

"The Audit Department through the years, and its track record shows, it has not failed the government.

"So they deserve to be congratulated," Madinah said to applause from the government servants present at the town hall.

Ali said that following the audit report, the government had formed an investigating committee to look into 60 punitive warnings involving federal agencies, and 43 punitive warnings at the state government level. 

Punitive warnings made up 11 percent of the audit's 838 advisories. The remaining 89 percent were corrective advisories. 

On the federal level, 119 officers were probed for disciplinary infractions.