KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — The Islamic Economic Development Foundation (Yapeim) today dismissed a news portal report alleging that it lost RM12 million through a gold pawn scheme involving 1,000 Ar-Rahnu customers.

Yapeim Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Mohd Daud Bakar said an audit report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and a recent internal report showed that 17,053 of its clients involved in its Ar-Rahnu Yapeim scheme received surplus payments totalling RM5.4 million.

He said unclaimed jewellery totalled 388kg and valued at RM62 million and not 300kg with a value of RM80 as alleged in the news portal report.

"There was no RM12 million losses as alleged, instead Yapeim received a total of RM9.4 million in income from safekeeping fees,” he said in a press conference, here today.

The news portal had cited a confidential government document related to the foundation’s expenses in its report published on May 13.

Following this, Mohd Daud said Yapeim was giving the news portal till Friday to issue an apology, failing which Yapeim will consider legal action.

"We will be seeking legal advice on whether we should take legal action after the deadline given.

"We are taking this matter very seriously, as the allegations are not only baseless but has implications on Yapeim’s reputation,” he said. — Bernama