Directors' dereliction of duties: Rot that cannot be ignored

 

 When a man charged with 47 counts of corruption and money laundering is given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal after the defence is called, while another walks away after paying a RM10 million compound despite facing 26 money laundering charges, it is hard to surprise Malaysians anymore.

Nor were they amused when the MACC released audio recordings of conversations allegedly involving leaks from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, alongside other intercepted calls linked to investigations into the 1MDB and SRC International scandals.

So when the royal commission of inquiry report on Tabung Haji was released last month, few were surprised when its former chairperson, Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, whose voice featured in one of those recordings, thumped his chest and played the “I don’t know” card.

In his defence, Azeez claimed he held only a non-executive role during his 2013-2018 tenure, insisting he had no absolute authority over the pilgrimage fund’s operations.

He stressed that he was not involved in day-to-day operations or investment decisions, saying all proposals were vetted by management before being presented to the board.

“I want to tell everyone that I was a non-executive chairperson. I did not have any absolute powers over the day-to-day operation. I don’t even know what is happening at the working level,” he said on an Umno Online podcast.

But the archives tell a very different story, particularly when it comes to Tabung Haji’s infamous purchase of a plot of land from 1MDB. Azeez was in the thick of it, making his claim appear like a fib.

Days after Tabung Haji admitted it bought a 1.56-acre plot in May 2015, public pressure forced the fund to announce it would sell the land.

It paid RM188.5 million, or RM2,773 per square foot (psf), for land that 1MDB had acquired from the government just four years earlier for a mere RM64 psf - 43 times less.

Industry experts were scathing. Most estimated that Tabung Haji had overpaid by between RM773 psf and RM1,386 psf - up to half of what it had paid 1MDB.

“That place is in Jalan Tun Razak. Yes, it is developing, but it is not Jalan Sultan Ismail. It should be RM90 million overall, RM100 million at most, so it is overpaid,” said Ernest Cheong of PTL Chartered Surveyors.

Azeez’s own words tell another story

This is where Azeez’s claim of ignorance collapses. As public pressure mounted, he did not remain silent. He defended the deal, claiming Tabung Haji would make a small profit when the land was resold.

He also revealed that the board agreed to sell only after receiving a phone call from Najib.

“The prime minister called me and advised us to sell the land. There are three offers already, and we will settle it next week,” Azeez said at the time.

“We did nothing wrong in buying the land,” he insisted. But buying it at 43 times what 1MDB had paid for it just four years earlier sent tongues wagging - and rightly so.

Azeez cannot evade accountability by hiding behind the label of “non-executive chairperson”. Leadership is not about retreating behind a job description; it is about standing guard when the alarm bells ring. And in this case, they were deafening.

Was he not, as a director, expected to act as an ordinary man of business? Was he not bound by a fiduciary duty to scrutinise decisions and ensure they were in the organisation’s best interests?

Paying RM188.5 million for land that should have cost less than half that amount was not a technical oversight - it was a monumental betrayal of trust.

Azeez was not a passive bystander. He took Najib’s call, publicly defended the purchase, and only moved to sell after public outrage forced his hand.

To say he “did not know” is not just unbelievable; it is insulting to Malaysians who expect integrity from those entrusted with their savings. He should have stopped the deal the moment the numbers crossed into the realm of the absurd.

Instead, he allowed Tabung Haji to be used as a lifeline for 1MDB, sacrificing depositors’ funds to prop up a scandal-ridden entity.

That is not ignorance; that is complicity. And complicity in corruption, dressed up as innocence, is precisely why Malaysians have grown weary of excuses and hunger for real accountability. - Mkini

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R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who strives to uphold the ethos of civil rights leader John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT