Annual Audits For Lawyers Qualifying Board With Rm55mil In Coffers

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As of September, the Legal Profession Qualifying Board collected RM4.2 million in fees this year alone, according to deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: An amendment to the law requiring the Legal Profession Qualifying Board to be audited annually aims to ensure transparency and promote good governance, says deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran.
He told FMT the move aligns with the government’s call for greater accountability in statutory bodies.
Last week, the Dewan Rakyat passed amendments to the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA) which now require the board to be audited annually by the auditor-general, a practice which ceased in 2017.
Kulasegaran said the board presently holds RM55.2 million in funds.
In October, the deputy minister told the lower house that the board had spent RM20.5 million on its operational costs over the past seven years, with RM3.89 million in expenses incurred last year alone.
Without the audit, the board’s annual activities have been obscured from public view, the deputy minister said.
“We are particularly concerned about the data on passes and failures in the CLP examination and how the board’s funds are utilised.
“The government will continue to scrutinise all aspects of the board to ensure transparency and promote good governance, in line with the prime minister’s call for greater transparency and accountability in statutory bodies,” said Kulasegaran.
The board’s main functions involve the recognition of law degrees from local and foreign universities and the handling of the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination.
The CLP examination operates as the gateway for holders of law degrees from a prescribed list of local and foreign institutions which are not recognised either under the LPA or by the board for direct admission into legal practice here.
In 2024, some 1,500 law graduates sat for the annual CLP examination, with 450 candidates having to retake one or more of the five prescribed papers.
Presently, the LPQB charges candidates RM6,050 to sit for the CLP examination. The sum is made up of a registration fee of RM4,000, examination fee of RM1,800 and a processing fee of RM250.
Each registration is valid for a maximum period of five years during which law graduates are allowed to sit for the exam a maximum of four times.
Failure to pass in those four attempts will see a candidate permanently barred from taking the CLP examination, effectively ending their hopes of practicing law.
Those with provisional passes must pay an additional RM1,000 to retake a paper, with a maximum of three attempts allowed.
Kula said that the board collected RM4.2 million in fees between January and September this year alone.
“The board collects millions of ringgit from law graduates who sit for the annual CLP examination but the auditing of the accounts stopped abruptly in 2017.
“When I summoned the director of the CLP examination for an explanation, she was unable to provide a reason for the cessation. This is clearly wrong, and the amendment introducing Section 9A into the LPA corrects nearly two decades of lack of oversight,” he said. - FMT

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