KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 ― An interim audit of Lembaga Tabung Haji’s (LTH) 2015 accounts has shown that it will be able to pay dividends to its depositors, the Auditor-General said today, offering relief to some eight million contributors following concerns raised here over the fund’s reserve levels.

A-G Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, in a brief statement this morning, added that LTH’s board of directors reserved the right to determine the rate of payouts for the year.

The A-G also said that the interim audit was a normal practice to ensure the accounting policies used by the fund continue to be consistent and prudent.

“Based on our checks of LTH’s income for the year ended December 31, 2015, and the interim information received, we found that the fund is capable of making dividend payments to its depositors,” the statement said.

LTH’s finances came into public attention after a letter from Bank Negara Malaysia warning the fund that its assets were insufficient to meet its liabilities, was leaked to the public.

Last week, LTH CEO Tan Sri Ismee Ismail denied its reserves was in the negative, indicating that BNM had calculated wrongly because the central bank did not take into account the fund's investment portfolios such as its subsidiaries, plantation assets and properties.

Ismee stated that the fund's cash assets alone as at December 31, 2015, stood at RM10.7 billion.

LTH chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim on Saturday said LTH would answer all allegations directed at it through a press conference scheduled in this week.

He was also reported as saying that the dividend payout would be announced after the Chinese New Year.

Yesterday, PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar said the fund should be transparently audited to dispel fears that it is in danger of insolvency.

The Lembah Pantai MP said Abdul Azeez must commit to this action or resign if he is unable to do so and calm contributors’ fears.

Stating that dividend payout in the 1990s was around at 8.5 per cent annum, Nurul Izzah said this has since dropped to six per cent a year in the last ten years.

She also pointed out that there was only one class of depositors and that preferential payment to any particular party may be illegal.