This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 12, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Lembaga Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has denied allegations of misconduct by the pilgrims fund’s previous management.

“Tabung Haji’s previous management did not violate the law and did not commit any misconduct as alleged [in news reports],” Abdul Azeez, also Baling member of parliament, told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

“Other than Ernst and Young (EY), the reports and Tabung Haji’s financial position have been checked by the National Audit Department, which later gave a clean certificate every year to Tabung Haji,” he said, adding that what the pilgrims fund had done was not wrong as the valuation was verified by EY.

“I am shocked with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s [statement] that supposedly the previous management had declared dividends since 2014 that were not in accordance with the Tabung Haji Act 1995,” Abdul Azeez added.

He noted this would mean Tabung Haji had been paying dividends amounting to RM12.65 billion for four consecutive years until 2017 in a haram (illegal) way, resulting in the pilgrims fund having a deficit of RM4.1 billion.

Citing the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) financial position review of Tabung Haji, tabled in Parliament on Monday, Mujahid pointed out Tabung Haji’s total assets were lower at RM70.3 billion versus its total liabilities of RM74.4 billion.

Abdul Azeez also questioned Mujahid’s silence on EY’s previous audit reports, done yearly between 2015 and 2017, and the latter’s revelation about the PwC’s report; PwC only started auditing Tabung Haji’s financial position for 2017.

Citing the EY reports, Abdul Azeez said Tabung Haji’s total assets (realisable asset value) were at RM64.7 billion in 2015, versus total liabilities including the dividend payable of up to RM63.3 billion.

Total assets in 2016 were at RM69.1 billion, compared to total liabilities of RM68.4 billion. In 2017, total assets stood at RM74.7 billion, versus total liabilities of RM74.4 billion.

Hence, Abdul Azeez claimed the PwC report, released on Monday, only served to create confusion and concerns among Tabung Haji’s 9.3 million depositors.

Concerning Yayasan Tabung Haji’s alleged misuse of RM22 million, including for political purposes, Abdul Azeez denied the allegation, urging the ministers involved to avoid dragging the pilgrims fund into politics.

“If the ministers want to play politics, please don’t touch Tabung Haji. I believe this is to drag me and Tabung Haji, which was under the previous [Barisan Nasional] government,” said Abdul Azeez.

“As the former chairman, I will always be ready to work with any parties as we have not committed any wrongdoing, in particular taking depositors’ savings [to pay the dividends].

“I just don’t want the ministers to bring Tabung Haji into politics. So, settle it amicably and find solutions. I appreciate whatever enhancements the minister and the new management want to do for the ‘ummah’, especially for Tabung Haji. I’m very positive about that.”

On the revelation that Tabung Haji’s chief financial officer had confirmed with PwC that the previous management had changed the impairment threshold to have sufficient profits to meet the bonus distribution for 2017, Abdul Azeez said: “As a chairman [of Tabung Haji], [mind,] I’m not an executive chairman ... we just follow whatever document brought to us which is certified by the Auditor-General’s (A-G) Department and the EY report. So, we go according to that.”

He added that he did not have any executive power to handle or monitor Tabung Haji’s daily operations, noting the “hibah” has been paid in accordance with the A-G and EY reports.