This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 10, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) or the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is not needed to investigate the Lembaga Tabung Haji (Pilgrims Management Fund), said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

This is because the weaknesses uncovered at the pilgrims fund by the National Audit Department and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are quite clear, with no mysteries warranting further investigations, he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

“An RCI is only for unclear, mysterious cases. In Tabung Haji’s case, there is not much mystery and the government has committed RM17.8 billion [to it]. Why would we need an RCI?” he said.

He was speaking in response to Umno Youth chief Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki’s call for an RCI to investigate the alleged wrongdoings at Tabung Haji.

Umno vice president and opposition leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob also voiced his support earlier yesterday for an RCI. In addition, he proposed that the PAC conduct its own probe into Tabung Haji.

Mujahid, meanwhile, said the issues at Tabung Haji are already being handled and conditions are improving following initiatives and measures taken over the past six months.

“We have dealt with the issues on mismanagement and misreporting. I don’t think an RCI or a PAC investigation is needed. The reports have clearly shown Tabung Haji’s deficit.

“We have changed the leadership, so there is no political influence on Tabung Haji and we are balancing the fund’s assets and liabilities.”

A special audit by PwC revealed the pilgrims fund’s true losses for 2017 amounting to RM10 billion, and not RM4.1 billion as previously thought. The extent of the losses was found to be deliberately concealed.

Tabung Haji has also breached the Tabung Haji Act 1965 by paying dividends to depositors using their own savings.