Rafizi to MACC: Don't stop at THHE, probe Tabung Haji too

While the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) investigations into apparent corruption in Tabung Haji Heavy Engineering (THHE) is laudable, the anti-graft body should not stop there and must investigate its parent company, Tabung Haji, as well.

This, argued Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, is that while there may be corruption in the subsidiary, the decision to continue pumping public funds into THHE, even after it lost so much money, may signal that something is rotten in the house of Tabung Haji.

"The bigger question is how the Tabung Haji senior management, including its board of directors and investment panel, made the decision to invest in a company which, prior to the investment by the pilgrimage fund into THHE, had courted controversy when it was still Ramunia Holdings Sdn Bhd," Rafizi asked in a statement.

And more importantly, Rafizi argued, MACC must investigate why Tabung Haji, which only has a 30 percent stake in THHE, continued to pour depositor funds into the troubled subsidiary after it tanked, to keep it afloat.

The Tabung Haji management, from its CEO down who are responsible for all decisions, as well as the board of directors and investment panel, which vet those decisions, must be probed to ensure that there is no element of negligence that caused such heavy losses in bad investments, Rafizi said.

"I will await the Tabung Haji response to the matter and will consider lodging several police reports against the company’s top guns next week, if they are not transparent about this," he added.

Rafizi also praised the MACC for its vigilance in investigating reports of weaknesses in THHE management, which have already led to millions of ringgit in losses.

Prior to this, Rafizi has been consistently exposing what he claimed to be serious lapses in the management of THHE and its parent company, alleging losses of millions of ringgit in depositor funds channelled into the reportedly troubled firm.

Yesterday, MACC picked up a high ranking member of THHE management for alleged corruption.- Mkini