As of December 31, 2025, five Malaysian government ministries have yet to recover a total of RM68.81 million in contractor advance payments related to 24 projects, according to the Auditor-General’s Report Series 2/2026. The ministries involved are Education, Defence, Home, Transport, and Works.

The report highlights that RM59.63 million, representing approximately 86.7% of the outstanding amount, has been delayed for more than a decade and involves 21 companies. Additionally, RM9.18 million is tied to three active companies with debts outstanding for less than five years, while RM10.68 million involves companies that have since been dissolved.

The delayed recovery of funds is partly attributed to slow follow-up actions against companies that have wound up, including delays in submitting Proof of Debt Forms to the Insolvency Department. This has hindered full recovery of the outstanding advances. Furthermore, the report noted an unreported WPK balance of RM5.67 million linked to two projects under the Education and Transport ministries, resulting in an understatement of the actual receivables.

Despite these issues, the Auditor-General found that the overall management of contractor advance payments largely complied with government financial regulations. The report recommended that immediate civil action or issuance of demand letters be pursued for active companies under the Education and Home ministries where contract breaches have occurred. This would help ensure adherence to statutory limitation periods and improve recovery efforts.

The findings underscore ongoing challenges in handling long-outstanding government advances and highlight the need for more rigorous enforcement to secure public funds.