Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11): Lembaga Tabung Haji's (TH) former chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has denied allegations of misconduct by the pilgrim fund's previous management.

Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, citing PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) report titled Financial Position Review of TH, said two suspicious transactions that created fictitious profits for 2017 were carried out by the pilgrim fund to enable it to pay dividends that it would otherwise not be allowed to.

Because the profits were not real, TH dipped into depositors' savings to pay the dividends.

"TH's previous management did not violate the law and did not commit any misconduct as alleged [in news reports]," Azeez told the press at the Parliament lobby here today

"Other than Ernst and Young (EY), the reports and financial position of TH has been checked by the National Audit Department which later gave a clean certificate every year to TH," said Azeez, adding that what TH has done was not wrong because 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 to the Tabung Haji Act 1995," said Azeez.

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

Citing the PwC report, Mujahid noted that TH's total assets were lower at RM70.3 billion compared to liabilities of RM74.4 billion.

Azeez queried the reason for Mujahid's silence yesterday on EY's reports, which were done yearly since 2015 to 2017, but only revealed PwC's report; PwC only started auditing TH's financial position this year.

Citing the EY reports, Azeez said TH's total assets (realisable asset value) was RM64.7 billion in 2015, versus total liabilities including the dividend payable, of up to RM63.3 billion.

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

Hence, he claimed that the PwC report which was shared yesterday is creating confusion and concerns for TH's 9.3 million depositors.

In relation to the alleged misuse of RM22 million by Yayasan Tabung Haji, including for political reasons, Azeez denied the allegation and urged the ministers to avoid dragging the pilgrim fund into politics.

"If the ministers want to play politics, please don't touch TH," said Azeez.

"I believe this is to drag me and TH, which is under the previous government," said Azeez, when asked if the previous management was being slandered.

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

"I just don't want the ministers to bring TH to politics. So, settle it amicably and find solutions. I appreciate whatever enhancements the minister and the new management wants to do for the 'ummah', especially for TH. I'm very positive about that," said Azeez.

When questioned on the revelation that TH's chief financial officer had confirmed with PwC that the previous management had changed the impairment threshold to have sufficient profits to meet bonus distribution for 2017, Azeez said: "As a chairman, I'm not an executive chairman... we just follow whatever document brought to us which is certified by the AG (auditor general) department and EY report. So we go according to that."

He added that he didn't have any executive power to handle or monitor the day-to-day operation of TH then, noting that the "hibah" has been paid in accordance to the AG and EY reports.

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