A-G's Report: Millions of ringgit in maintenance fees paid by police for inactive helicopters

PETALING JAYA: The police have had to pay millions of ringgit in maintenance fees for inactive helicopters, said the 2019 Auditor-General’s Report.

An audit visit in Sept 2019 at the police’s Air Wing Unit in Subang found that a helicopter that was inactive for over six months did not get a 25% reduction in fixed monthly payments.

According to the contract, after six months of a helicopter being inactive, the fixed monthly maintenance charge for it will be reduced by 25% to RM28,875 compared to RM38,500 before discount.

“The helicopter registered as 9M-PHJ has been inactive after an accident during landing on March 13,2018, and up until August 2019, it has been inactive for 17 months.

“However, the fixed monthly payment for the helicopter was still charged at RM38,500 after a period of six months from the date the helicopter was inactive.

“According to audit calculations, a total of RM105,875 has been overpaid for the monthly fixed payment of the helicopter for a period of 11 months from October 2018 to September 2019, ” said the report on Monday (Aug 24).

Further checks found that maintenance fees amounting to RM3.47mil was also made for two helicopters, registered as 9M-PHA and 9M-PHF, which had been inactive for over three years from 2017 to 2019.

“The audit found that this happened because the terms of the contract only allowed for a discount given to a maximum of three helicopters at a time.

“This has caused a waste of RM3.47mil, ” said the report.

Six out of 10 helicopters had been classified as inactive as they did not meet the set flying hours.

The audit said a maintenance service contract should not have limited the maximum number of helicopters that could be given a discount on their maintenance fees at any one time as damage could happen unexpectedly.

In a reply to the department dated June 17,2020, the Home Ministry said that it was reviewing the terms of the contract extension to guarantee that the interest of the government will be protected.

The report also said that there was an overpayment for the replacement of photography spare parts, amounting to RM2.7mil.

“This is more than RM2.49mil compared to the ceiling price of RM209,964, ” said the report.

Corrective maintenance on the available 467 photography equipment was also not done according to contract, and instead, RM2.72mil was paid to procure new equipment.

The report also said that 187 photography equipment worth RM1.05mil sent for maintenance were still not returned by the firm although the contract ended on May 31,2019.

The police, in its reply to the department on June 17,2020, said that early checks found that the assets were still within the possession of the firm.

“However, the firm has verified that there are no assets in their possession on November 20,2019. The police will be lodging a police report on the loss of the assets, ” it said.

Meanwhile, in an audit at the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), it was found that it had failed to claim liquidated damages amounting to RM651,650 from a firm that delayed in completing maintenance work worth RM6.07mil.

The audit report said that the work was delayed by between 44 days and 1,103 days, but the firm responsible was not charged with the supposed late fine of RM651,650, causing a loss of revenue to the RMAF.

In a reply, the RMAF said that the late fine will be imposed on the contractor for the work that was delayed beyond the date of supposed completion.