Auditor-General's Report: RM14.17mil spent on Washington D.C. properties

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has left two of its properties in Washington DC vacant despite spending RM14.17mil to renovate the properties.

The properties are meant to house Malaysian representatives to the United States,

The Auditor General’s report (third series 2014) revealed that the two buildings, Annex 1 and 2, had been bought in 1979 and 1984 at a cost of RM1.45mil and RM1.05mil respectively.

However, they have been vacant since 2002 when the Malaysian mission in the United States moved to the New Chancery building.

Renovation works began in 2010 and were completed two years later.

However, the buildings remained unoccupied.

The audit classified the buildings as wastage, seeing as the Malaysian government still had to fork out between US$2,000 to US$3,000 a month for utilities and maintenance.

The defect liability period for the buildings had expired in June 29, 2013.

As such, contractors cannot be held liable for any damages that occur before or after the building is occupied.

In response, the Foreign Ministry said it had recently approved a proposal for both buildings to be turned into quarters for staff.

It added that Insight Engineering Inc had won the tender for the project, and renovation works had begun as soon as local authorities issued the approval.

The approval was issued on Oct 23, 2015.