Cuepacs to blame for investing pension fund’s RM5.4 billion in 1MDB, says PKR

Cuepacs president Datuk Azih Muda sits on the board of KWAP and his fiduciary duties included making sure the pension fund did not invest in 1MDB, says an opposition lawmaker. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 31, 2015.

The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) must be held accountable for any dealings the civil service pension fund has with debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said.

He said Cuepacs leaders must be "sleeping on the job" if they allowed KWAP to invest almost RM5.4 billion in the state investment firm over the past four years.

The interests of civil servants in KWAP's business transactions and investments are represented as Cuepacs president Datuk Azih Muda, who sits on the board of KWAP.

"They must be held accountable for all the dealings between KWAP and 1MDB. They should be looking after the interests of the civil servants, for whom the pension fund is intended," the PKR secretary-general told The Malaysian Insider.

In 2011, KWAP loaned out RM4 billion to SRC International, then a subsidiary of 1MDB, for to invest in a coal mine in Mongolia. 

The principal amount's whereabouts remain in the dark, while SRC International was quickly absorbed as a subsidiary of Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOF), taking the loan off 1MDB's books.

Recently, it was revealed that KWAP had investments and holdings in 1MDB totalling RM 1.4 billion.

KWAP is among several state statutory bodies with investments and holdings in 1MDB and its subsidiaries.

Others include pilgrims’ fund Tabung Haji and the Employers Provident Fund (EPF).

1MDB currently sits on RM42 billion debts and has come under intense criticism from high-ranking members of the ruling coalition, including Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin had called for the sacking of the entire 1MDB board for accumulating such a huge debt.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the chairman of the 1MDB advisory board.

However, Rafizi blamed the civil service union's inability to take a bold stance on the weakening of unions in Malaysia over the past five decades.

"This is due to the state of unions in Malaysia over the past 50 years, be it in the public or private sector," he said.

"I mean, Cuepacs leaders can't possibly think that their job is only to propose and lobby for more bonuses for the civil service every year," he added.

- TMI