The first series of the audit report also found that TEKUN Nasional failed in its implementation of its entrepreneurship portal, entrepreneur community card system and Cyber Mall which resulted in losses of RM872,035. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (TEKUN Nasional) has racked up accumulated losses of RM209.28 million and written off bad debts amounting to RM410.61 million, the Auditor-General (A-G) said in its 2016 report released today.

TEKUN Nasional, which is under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia (MOA), was set up to provide financing facilities and help entrepreneurs develop and expand their businesses.

The first series of the audit report also found that TEKUN Nasional failed in its implementation of its entrepreneurship portal, entrepreneur community card system and Cyber Mall which resulted in losses of RM872,035.

Members of its Audit, Integrity and Risk Committee did not have any accounting background, the audit report pointed out.

“...the financial performance of TEKUN Nasional for the year 2013 to 2015 was less than satisfactory due to massive debt to the Government and a huge amount of bad debts was written off. Accumulated losses at the end of the year 2015 amounted to RM209.28 million,” the audit report said.

The report also stated that TEKUN Nasional had failed to carry out comprehensive studies to evaluate the effectiveness of fund utilisation by entrepreneurs to start-up or expand their businesses, and that it was not able to reached its financing repayment target.

From year 1998 to June 2016, TEKUN Nasional received loan financing from the Ministry of Finance amounting to RM1.86 billion, whereas RM670 million grants were

received from MOA for the purpose of Economic Stimulus Package, flood victims aid and Indian Community Entrepreneurial Development Schemes.

As of June 30, 2016, TEKUN Nasional disbursed financing to 473,982 entrepreneurs totaling RM4.29 billion, and a service charge of four per cent was imposed on financing amounts.

But repayments collected from entrepreneurs only amounted to RM2.71 billion or 63.2 per cent for the same period.