Top HRDF officers received hefty bonuses in the months leading up to GE-14

On April 9, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) conducted a clean-up on Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF). As for the findings, it was revealed that a top executive and three deputies received lavish salary increments in the months leading up to GE-14.

The executive took RM616,000 as a bonus for the year 2017, while the other three deputies had RM211,000 each. It was estimated that their “bonuses” were paid out two months before the 2018 general election.

In comparison, the executive’s bonus was RM 191,000 in 2016, RM 60,000 in 2015, and RM 17,000 in 2014. Apart from these individual bonuses, employees also receive corporate bonuses every year. Currently, the executive and one deputy have left the corporation, while another two deputies remained.

It was also reported that remuneration and bonuses had to be approved by HRDF’s establishment and benefits committee (EBC), which later needed to be approved by the board of director.

But what’s surprising about this scandal was the hefty bonuses were green lit by the former Human Resource Minister himself. Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem approved these performance bonuses on 28 of February 2018 without informing the EBC, violating the HRDF Act.

Overall, these individuals have yet to be arrested, but the suspicions of corruption do not seem to be far behind. On another note, the number of suspects arrested by MACC has increased after GE-14.

And these numbers do not seem to be decreasing anytime soon, as the MACC have been carrying out investigations aggressively. These numbers were sourced from MACC’s official portal.