KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) will remain under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Department, and not moved to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) as alleged by certain quarters. 

In a statement today, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the allegation that the pilgrims board is now being controlled by MoF is “false and unfounded”. 

“This was after the Cabinet decision to transfer TH’s non-performing assets to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by the government,” the statement said. 

The transfer of assets into the SPV is part of efforts to return TH back to normal, and to speed up recovery of its financial position, after “misconduct of a grand scale” in the institution, it said. 

“TH is also put under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). BNM, as an independent body, and under the leadership of Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, regulates all banks and financial institutions in the country, including Islamic financial institutions.

“TH remains under the control of the Prime Minister’s Department, and this has not changed with the introduction of the SPV, as agreed during the Cabinet meeting,” the statement added.

The SPV in question, Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd — a unit of MoF — is to take over RM19.9 billion of non-performing TH assets, including equities with yield below 2% and properties which have depreciated over 20%, according to reports in December last year. 

This came after it was revealed that TH’s 2017 accounts showed it had total assets of RM70.3 billion and total liabilities of RM74.4 billion. The fund has been declaring dividends since 2014, even as it did not meet the requirement whereby its assets must exceed liabilities.