KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 ― Former Tabung Haji (TH) chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim today claimed the two police reports that were lodged against him over the alleged misuse of a charity fund’s money for politically-linked activities were made with bad intentions.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Abdul Azeez explained that during his tenure as chairman, depositor funds were never used to manage welfare activities as mandated through the Tabung Haji Foundation (YTH) memorandum.

Abdul Azeez was referring to YTH 2017 programme "where funds totalling over RM22.0 million had been disbursed for activities with political inclinations”.

"I believe these reports were lodged against me with bad intentions.

"Let me be clear that the RM22 million was collected through various sources including contribution from corporations, federal government allocations and private individuals,” he said.

He said out of the RM22 million, RM7 million were investment funds from TH and that all of our YTH activities such as "Ziarah Kasih”, "Jom Bantu Rakyat” and "Ziarah Kasih Ramadan” have never been hidden from the public as it has been reported by the media.

Abdul Azeez said TH was able to arrange visits to more than 60 parliamentary constituencies, including non-BN seats to help individuals.

He added that YTH activities were truly carried out to assist the people, regardless of political ideology.

However, Azeez said he will give his full cooperation to the authorities.

He also asked Malaysians to stop "spinning” the issue to enable the investigations to be carried out properly.

Abdul Azeez said he was disappointed with the new TH management for not using proper standard operating procedure (SOP) to clear up the confusion and for not giving him an opportunity to explain himself.

"Even though I am a former chairman, it would have been more proper to call me beforehand and ask how the money was distributed. But suddenly last Saturday, everything came out in the press.

"All the money received was deposited into the YTH account by Umno, the federal government and contributing companies. I am sure there are records of the deposits,” he said.

Last Friday, TH lodged reports with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department here against Abdul Azeez, former CEOs Tan Sri Ismee Ismail and Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah and four senior management staff.

The senior staff are Datuk Adi Azuan (Chief Operating Officer) and Datuk Rozaida Omar (Chief Financial Officer), Hazlina Mohd Khalid (Legal Adviser) and Rifina Md Ariff (Senior General Manager, Corporate Services and Real Estate).

The reports lodged last Friday were the first following internal investigations into past transactions, spearheaded by the new management, since July 2018.