KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Accused of adopting ‘creative accounting’ in the management of Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) funds, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa today threw the accusation back at Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Dewan Rakyat.
In doing so, Mujahid also revealed the huge disparity in the cost of managing Haj pilgrims between 2018 and 2019.
“The one who manipulated is not us. We have experts. Whoever did the ‘creative accounting’ is also not the government today. We inherited all that from the previous government.
“I want to give assurance here. The answer to the questions posed by Ketereh. In the first quarter of 2019, the cost to manage Haj operations, which we handled, compared to the first quarter of 2018, during which the chairman at that time is also here with us (referring to Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim), is vastly different.
“In 2018, it was as much as RM262 million. When we took over, we reduced it by RM58 million to RM204 million,” Mujahid, who is in charge of religious affairs, told the Dewan Rakyat.
Mujahid was responding to a question by Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who had accused the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government of employing ‘creative accounting’ in TH’s finance management, claiming that the management of the Muslim pilgrims’ fund was causing contributors to be worried and suspicious of the approach taken by the current government.
The Parit Buntar MP also took a swipe at Annuar, saying that it was the Opposition who were anxious and worried, and not the contributors, causing BN members and Azeez to descend into a shouting match.
In April, Bernama reported that the total deposits received by the Tabung Haji (TH) still shows a positive figure, as the confidence of the depositors remains intact, this is despite a low dividend payout for 2018.
The fund’s group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zukri Samat was reported saying that the prospects for TH was bright, with better corporate governance, no more underperforming assets, as well as government guarantee, which he said were among the factors that support the depositors’ confidence in continuing to invest in TH.
On May 13, it was reported that TH had posted a sustainable performance by recording a net profit of RM440 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 as a result of the successful completion of its restructuring and rehabilitation process which began in December last year.
During the quarter TH’s earnings totalled RM623 million.
TH revealed late last year that it was short of RM4.1 billion in assets when it paid out the 2017 dividends to depositors, being in breach of the Tabung Haji Act 1995 which states that hibah, or dividends, can only be paid if the fund had made distributable profits.
In December last year, the fund said that the Finance Ministry (MOF) via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be acquiring its underperforming properties and equities in exchange for RM10 billion in sukuk and RM9.9 billion in Islamic redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS-i).
The move came after Mujahid claimed TH had accrued up to RM4.1 billion in losses as a result of poor investments, most of them highly questionable.
BN backbenchers were however highly critical of the planned asset transfers, noting that some of the equities were in highly profitable companies like Malakof or UEM Sunrise.
In a media interview last month, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said that the expenditure of most ministries have been temporarily halted to channel funds to bailout TH and the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).
The politician known as Mat Sabu said that a substantial part of his own ministry’s budget had to be diverted to save the two “Malay institutions”.
On April 10, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said that several assets under the Felda would be liquidated to improve the agency’s cash flow and strengthen its financial position.
He said the government has identified several potential non-strategic assets to be disposed of but stopped short of revealing the assets that may be sold off.
The government had tabled the Felda White Paper in Parliament early this month, outlining the problems faced by the state-owned palm oil giant, and its poor finances and spending.
The government will also be injecting a RM6.23 billion infusion in the form of loans and grants.
