KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) confirmed that it has not been approached to buy or invest in the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s lands or assets, financial daily The Edge reported today.

According to The Edge, the retirement fund was asked if it was weighing any deals involving land within 1MDB’s two planned development projects — Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia.

“The EPF has not been approached regarding any purchase of or investment in 1MDB’s Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land or any of their other assets,” an EPF spokesman was quoted as saying.

“The EPF always reviews any proposal for investment to determine whether it meets our risk-return criteria and has always applied the highest level of governance to ensure that our members’ interests are protected,” the spokesman added.

The EPF, which Malaysians from the private sector have to make mandatory monthly contributions from their salaries for their retirement savings, is a key institutional investor in the local market.

Since last week, government-linked fund Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH)’s RM188.5 million land deal with 1MDB over a 1.56 acre land plot in TRX has dominated headlines.

Following leakage of LTH’s alleged plans to buy two parcels of land from 1MDB, the pilgrimage fund was forced to go public and clarify it had only bought a plot of land from the state-owned investment fund a month ago.

Amid controversy over the land deal, LTH insisted that the discounted price of RM2,774 per square foot was a good deal, explaining that the TRX land purchase was for a luxury condominium development project that is expected to generate an annual return of 9 per cent and a total profit of RM177.5 million in three years.

Critics have questioned if the LTH land purchase is a bailout of 1MDB, which reportedly faces debts of RM43 million.

Yesterday, The Star Online reported that the civil servants’ pension fund Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP) had agreed to buy a parcel of land and building that will be turned into its new headquarters at the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) at a price 15 per cent cheaper than Lembaga Tabung Haji's (LTH) purchase.

Quoting sources, the report said that KWAP will be purchasing the land at about RM2,300 per sq ft.

In comparison, LTH reportedly paid RM188.5 million at RM2,773 psf for its part of the TRX land, which is 43 times what 1MDB paid four years ago when it purchased the plot for just RM4.5 million at a rate of RM64 psf.