The report, which highlighted many instances of wastage, was presented to Parliament on Tuesday.
The news especially as regards the 'missing' firearms can be expected to anger and even alarm Malaysians, who have been frightened by a spate of violent crimes and shootings.
It is telling that the Auditor's report did not state exactly what sort of firearms were involved but guns are the obvious inference. Some even warn that it could include high-performance machine guns and not just hand revolvers.
"The police must not only explain to the public but also tighten up their operations. Where are the checks and balances? The armory must surely have a log of details. Why wasn't there discipline in maintaining what went in and out? How can we have guns disappearing without a trace? It is clear the police have been lax and they must close up the loopholes."
Poor internal system of detection
The missing 'firearms' formed 14.2% of the total RM1.33 million losses recorded during the period 2010 to 2012. Handcuffs formed the largest portion of missing items at 50.5%.
In his report, the Auditor-General also noted delays in the discovery of the missing assets as well as in the reporting of the losses to the department head, and in preparing an initial report on the missing assets.
The report also stated that there were still many missing cases in 2010 and 2011 that had yet to be solved, as well as surcharges that have yet to be collected.
"Besides that, records in Bukit Aman and state police contingent headquarters containing information on missing assets and the status of investigations need to be coordinated," it added.
Malaysia's Customs Department was also not spared. The Auditor General found that RM602,089 worth of shoes bought for its staff were destroyed because of wrong specification.
The report said the sizes also did not meet the needs of the officers.
Sample tests conducted by the Science Technology Research Institute of Defence found that the soles of the shoes had turned brittle and split, said the Auditor-General.
According to the report, the goods were part of the department's uniform distributed to its staff with each person allocated two pairs of shoes before the end of April every year.
Malaysia Chronicle