Azlan Othman
Amendments to the Constitutional Order (Financial Procedure) (Amended) 2022 and Financial Regulations 2022 which will take effect on April 1 will be more precise and easily understood as the last revision was in 1983, said Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah during the fourth day of the 18th Legislative Council (LegCo) session yesterday.
LegCo member Yang Berhormat Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari asked the minister for more details on the amendment, announced in a titah by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam on Thursday.
“It needs to be reviewed to bring it in tandem with the current technology and needs. There are regulations back in 1983 that are no longer relevant or obsolete,” said the minister.
The minister said the updates will focus on regulations in two documents – the main text which contains the core policy of government financial regulations and the provision of guidelines on topics found in the main text.
Meanwhile, the minister said the Ministry of Finance and Economy will look into the matter of property developers’ reluctance to sell houses to public servants due to the difficult and time consuming to process the application.
The issue was raised by LegCo member Yang Berhormat Haji Abdul Hamid @ Sabli bin Haji Arsad, who also brought up the opening up of quotas and opportunities for several businesses interested in importing rice.
The ministers said companies had previously imported rice but had found such effort inappropriate, so the government took on the role to import the commodity. “With the volume that the government imports, we hope the price will be competitive. If the private sector wishes to import other rice varieties, it is their choice,” he said.
Yang Berhormat Haji Abdul Hamid @ Sabli also raised the matter of audits on companies that are no longer active for reasons such as the owner passing away, noting high fees imposed by certified accounts being an issue.
Responding, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew said businesses that are no longer active can apply to Registry of Companies and Business Names (ROCBN) to cancel its registration, as it is part of the regulation for businesses registered as Sendirian Berhad (Sdn Bhd) to be audited annually, although if the business is no longer active, the audit does not need to be comprehensive.
