Kula: 30% contribution by employers to HRDF to stop from Nov 15

KUALA LUMPUR: The 30% contribution by employers to the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) will be discontinued effective Nov 15, says M. Kulasegaran (pic).

The Human Resources Minister said that the final contribution was for the month of October 2018, and that the balance of funds would go towards human capital initiatives to be announced to employees later.

Regarding the alleged misappropriation of RM300mil from the fund, he said millions of ringgit were used to buy property without authorisation from the HRDF board, and that was just some of the wrongdoings.

Kulasegaran, who initiated a five-member independent Governance Oversight Committee to review and probe the allegations, said that there were elements of fraud in the use of the fund in the name of training.

The HRDF is an agency under the Human Resources Ministry that manages a fund for human resource training and development that were contributed by employers.

''Some training providers and certain HRDF management personnel misused the fund in the name of training.

''Large sums of money were diverted without the authority of the HRDF Board for less impactful training programmes.

''High salaries and bonuses were paid to selective management staff without the approval of the HRDF board,'' he said in his speech prior to a townhall meeting with representatives of employer associations and HRDF registered employers here Saturday (Nov 10).

Kulasegaran also revealed that some members of the HRDF board of directors did not declare their interests to the board.

On the fund being misused in the name of training, Kulasegaran said that the HRDF board was only informed after the money was spent.

''In other instances, management exceeded their authority and approved projects beyond their authorised limit,'' he said.

He said that parties at fault will be pursued ''through civil and criminal proceedings.''

''Investigations into the wrongdoings at HRDF are still ongoing and we will leave it to the authorities to do the needful,'' he added.

More details are expected during the townhall session, which is still ongoing.