Socso chief executive officer Azman Aziz Mohammed said the move is to ensure there is no further misappropriation of the PenjanaKerjaya funds involving employers.

“It’s not that we (Socso) didn’t monitor before (the claim process), but some of the employers might have used certain ways to manipulate the documents to make them look genuine.

“But when we go down to the ground, we found that there are elements of abuse (misappropriation). We will not compromise in this,” he said at a press conference on the JaminKerja Wage Incentive programme today.

It was reported that Socso had suspended the payments for PenjanaKerjaya, amounting to RM423 million, following misappropriation and false claims involving employers and training providers.

Azman said any irregularity could be detected based on internal intelligence gathering and all information would be channelled to the authorities for further action.

In another development, he said Socso was confident of fulfilling the government’s mandate to provide 55,000 job opportunities through the JaminKerja programme which has been extended until December.

He said RM475 million would be channelled to employers as an incentive to create job opportunities and recruit employees.

“The target of 55,000 job opportunities is open to all sectors. Based on statistics, many individuals, including 3,568 women, have benefited from this programme,” he said.

Azman said 1,712 job seekers managed to secure jobs while 10,698 others made it to the second interview at a five-day career expo held at the World Trade Centre here.

He said the event was the biggest career carnival organised by the human resources ministry and Socso.