KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — The National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) which is a part of the Covid-19 initiative aimed at revitalising job demands has come under scrutiny following the Auditor-General's 2/2024 report released today.

The report showed that the Gerak Insan Gemilang (GIG) training programme, attended by 3,726 participants, some of whom participated as many as 16 times, incurred costs amounting to RM51.69 million for the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp).

"Audit review of HRD Corp reports and sample payment vouchers to GIG training providers revealed instances where the same participants attended multiple sessions up to 16 times with some participants attending different courses concurrently within the same period.

"Audit scrutiny of payment amounts also identified discrepancies between the voucher amounts and HRD Corp’s reports. These findings raise concerns about the validity of course delivery, payment claims, and participant attendance verification,” the report said.

The report further revealed that the list of Penjana participants submitted to the Finance Ministry found 234 applications for the training programme from 2020 to 2023 appearing suspicious due to repetitive names and identification numbers.

Due to this, audit findings indicate that the management of the training programmes was not conducted systematically according to the implementation guidelines of the Penjana issued by HRD Corp.

It further said that these issues undermine the government's intention to provide opportunities for more workers to enhance their skills and reduce unemployment.

Penjana aims to boost job demand and cut unemployment, limiting participants to one training scheme for Malaysian citizens under its guidelines.