Malaysia legislation
Section 16
Section 16
(1)
If it appears to a statutory body that any person who is or was in its employment –
(a)
has failed or neglected to collect any moneys owing to the statutory body for the collection of which he is or was responsible;
(b)
is or was responsible for any payment from the funds of the statutory body of moneys which ought not have been made or for any payment of money which is not duly approved or which would not have been paid by the statutory body but for his negligence;
(c)
is or was responsible, directly or indirectly, for any deficiency in, or for the destruction of, any moneys, stamps, securities, stores or other property of the statutory body;
(d)
being or having been an accounting officer, fails or has failed to keep proper accounts or records; or
(e)
has failed to make any payment, or is or was responsible for any unreasonable delay in the payment of moneys from the funds of the statutory body to any person to whom such payment is due under any
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contract, agreement or arrangement entered into between that person and the statutory body, the statutory body shall serve on him a written notice calling on him to show cause why he should not be surcharged, and if a satisfactory explanation is not, within fourteen days from the date of service of the notice aforesaid, furnished to the statutory body with regard to the failure to collect, payment which ought not to have been made, payment not duly approved, deficiency or destruction, or failure to keep proper accounts or records, or failure to make payment, or delay in making payment, the statutory body may surcharge against the said person a sum not exceeding the amount of any such sum not collected, such payment, deficiency, or loss or the value of the property destroyed, as the case may be, and with regard to the failure to keep proper accounts or records, or the failure to make payment, or the delay in making payment, the statutory body may, with the approval of the State Financial Authority, surcharge against the said person such sum as the statutory body may deem fit.
(2)
The statutory body shall duly inform the person to be surcharged under subsection (1), and the amount of sum surcharged. A copy of such notice shall be extended forthwith to the Minister and the State Financial Authority.
(3)
The statutory body may, with the approval of the State Financial Authority, at any time withdraw any surcharge in respect of which a satisfactory explanation has been received or if it otherwise appears that no surcharge should have been made, and the statutory body shall at once cause the person to be notified of such withdrawal.
(4)
The amount of any surcharge made under subsection (1) and not withdrawn under subsection (3) shall be a debt due to the statutory body from the person against whom the surcharge is made and may be sued for and recovered in any court as the suit of the statutory body and may also be recovered by deduction –
(a)
from the salary of the person surcharged if the statutory body so directs;
(b)
from the pension of the person surcharged, if the statutory body with the approval of the Minister so directs, by equal monthly instalments not exceeding one-fourth of the total monthly salary or pension, as the case may be, of that person;
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(c)
from the gratuity or other retirement benefits of that person if the statutory body, with the approval of the Minister, so directs; or
(d)
from any sum due and payable by the statutory body to the person surcharged.