SPOOKED by reports of financial impropriety at Tabung Haji, depositors are planning to withdraw all of their savings if the pilgrims’ fund does not declare any interest next year.
A depositor, who only wanted to be known as Rose, said she has RM200,000 in Tabung Haji and was prepared to move the funds to a bank.
“I will usually get a high interest which will be re-deposited into the account. Without fail, Tabung Haji will pay dividends and hibah (income distribution). I will wait for next year. If there is none, it is better for me to move my money to a bank. At least there is a 3% dividend for fixed deposits,” she told The Malaysian Insight.
Another account holder, Adnan Musa, 59, said he found it hard to believe the reports of wrongdoing surrounding Tabung Haji funds.
“I have money inside. Before this, only dividends are allowed to be withdrawn. So I find it strange how Tabung Haji can embezzle those funds. I was shocked and surprised that Tabung Haji funds, too, can be misappropriated,” said the civil servant with nearly RM100,000 in his account.
Retired civil servant Junainah Abdul, 61, said she was disappointed when she read about the alleged wrongdoings by the Tabung Haji board.
“I can’t imagine that this would happen. I have only a few thousand. And until now, I have yet to fulfil the haj. That’s what worries me a lot,” s he said.
According to Tabung Haji’s website, there were around 9.2 million depositors as at 2017. The fund paid out a 4.5% interest that year.
On December 10, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the Tabung Haji board had violated the Tabung Haji Act 1995 by paying hibah to depositors while its accounts recorded a deficit of RM4.1 billion.
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Tabung Haji also paid out hibah from depositors’ savings accounts and not profits as declared, according to an audit report on the financial status of the Tabung Haji board for 2018 by accounting firm PwC. The report was released in Parliament on Monday.
Former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has denied any wrongdoing by the fund’s previous management, accusing the government of revealing only selected facts from a financial report on the fund’s assets and liabilities.
Azeez said Mujahid was wrong to have looked at only the 2017 financial statement on Tabung Haji’s assets of RM70.3 billion and liabilities of RM74.4 billion, as reported by PWC.
Mujahid did not take into account an Ernst & Young report that looked at other assets held by subsidiaries, joint ventures and real estate for the three years between 2015 and 2017.
“I stress that the Tabung Haji management never violated the act and did not do any wrong as alleged,” Azeez said in a statement yesterday.
“The Ernst & Young report was also in the PwC report given to MPs yesterday and it shows that Tabung Haji’s assets were greater than its liabilities for all three years.
“This has been confirmed by an external auditor as well as the auditor-general.
“Therefore, Tabung Haji has paid hibah according to the law and did not do anything wrong.”
Mujahid yesterday also announced that a special purpose vehicle would take over Tabung Haji’s troubled assets, while the new management would develop a turnaround plan for the fund. -THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said his party wants Tabung Haji’s financial position to be investigated by a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) or by Parliament.
Hadi said the probe must look into every recommendation by auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) before these were implemented by the federal government.
“PAS takes the allegations on what happened to the largest Islamic financial institution very seriously.
“PAS is of the view that these allegations should not be discussed in the media by a minister who is still new, because it can cause confusion,” he said in a statement today.
Hadi said PAS hopes that the federal government will not politicise the issue because it would destroy Tabung Haji’s image. He also hoped that the federal government will be fair and investigate Pakatan Harapan leaders.
The minister referred to by Hadi was likely Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs.
Last week, Mujahid had revealed the results of an independent review on Tabung Haji’s financial statements by PwC.
Among others, PwC found that Tabung Haji had violated the law by paying depositors dividends between 2016 and 2017 when its liabilities exceeded its assets.
The firm also reported that there was creative accounting involved.
Several BN leaders have urged the federal government to set up an RCI to look into Tabung Haji’s affairs while a prominent PAS leader – Khairuddin Aman Razali – expressed incredulity over the results of PwC’s review.
However, former Tabung Haji chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim had insisted that the fund’s books were in order while former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak accused Harapan of politicising the matter.
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