Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh is zooming in on the fact that the Tabung Haji royal commission of inquiry did not spell out any instances of misappropriation by Umno leaders.
Taking to Facebook this morning, he asked: “So who are the Umno politicians involved and said to have ‘sakau’ (stolen) (Tabung haji funds)?”
He said the RCI report instead finds fault with the haj fund’s weak management.
“So the question today is, are the losses suffered due to corruption or management failures by administrative staff?
“Is giving high dividends to depositors and high subsidies to haj pilgrims considered ‘sakau’?” he added.
He appeared to be following up on his challenge to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to prove his claims last week that there had been theft in Tabung Haji, while also responding to other critics who claimed the RCI would be bad for Umno.
No accusations in report, but…
Akmal is right in that the RCI did not accuse any Umno politician of misappropriation, corruption, or theft.
However, five officers were punished internally for various issues, namely former group chief financial officer Rozaida Omar, former chief operating officer Adi Azuan Abdul Ghani, former senior general manager of corporate services and property Rifina Ariff, former chief human resources officer Hisham Harun, and former legal adviser Hazlina Khalid.
This was over four issues: the sale of shares in PT TH Indo Plantations, unauthorised contributions to Yayasan Tabung Haji, the 2017 hibah (dividend) declaration, and the submission of false claims.
All five officers were initially issued dismissals, but this was downgraded to demotions upon appeal. As of the time the RCI was completed in June 2022, all five were still with Tabung Haji.
The hibah declaration issue is regarding Tabung Haji management’s “creative accounting”, in which they adopted realisable asset value based on their own subjective estimates instead of audited figures to artificially inflate the organisation’s financial position.
This was then used to justify not just high dividends but also excessive bonuses that Tabung Haji couldn’t afford.
The RCI also indicated that the creative accounting decision was approved by the Tabung Haji board, which at the time was chaired by Umno veteran Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.
Further, the RCI noted that decisions to pay out high dividends and subsidies were politically motivated, especially the dividends for 2017, which were announced just three months before the 14th general election in 2018.
‘Already cleared by MACC’
The RCI indicated that multiple related police and MACC reports were unresolved as at the time of the inquiry.
Though not detailed thoroughly in the RCI report, one of the police reports was against Azeez and others over the alleged misuse of RM22 million for political activities. The funds were meant for Yayasan Tabung Haji.
Additionally, there are also vague mentions in the RCI of misappropriation and abuse of power regarding the rental of Restoran Opah at KL Sentral and Restoran Nasi Dalca at the Tabung Haji headquarters. It is unclear who is involved in the alleged crimes or when they happened.
Met on the campaign trail in Negeri Sembilan today, Azeez said he was ready to be investigated again.
However, he proclaimed his innocence and said the authorities had found no wrongdoing.
“I was already cleared by the then-MACC chief commissioner (Azam Baki) in 2021.
“If the media wants to see proof, I can share the official letter which was given to me,” he was quoted as saying by The Star.
He said police also informed him two weeks ago that they were waiting for a “no further action” order for cases involving him.
He said if he had committed any wrongdoing, he would have already been charged during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second term as prime minister from 2018 to 2020.
Azeez was charged during that period, but for alleged bribery and money laundering linked to a highway project in Perak and Kedah.
He was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in September 2022 on the prosecution’s request after “new evidence” surfaced. He was granted a full acquittal in December that year. - Mkini
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