Spooked Tabung Haji depositors ready to withdraw savings

Nabihah Hamid Nabihah Hamid Updated 5 years ago · Published on 12 Dec 2018 11:00AM · 5 Comments

SPOOKED by reports of financial impropriety at Tabung Haji, depositors are planning to withdraw all of their savings if the pilgrims’ fund does not declare any dividends next year.

A depositor, who only wanted to be known as Rose, said she has RM200,000 in Tabung Haji and was prepared to move the funds to a bank.

“I will usually get a high interest which will be re-deposited into the account. Without fail, Tabung Haji will pay dividends and hibah (income distribution). I will wait for next year. If there is none, it is better for me to move my money to a bank. At least there is a 3% dividend for fixed deposits,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Another account holder, Adnan Musa, 59, said he found it hard to believe the reports of wrongdoing surrounding Tabung Haji funds.

“I have money inside. Before this, only dividends are allowed to be withdrawn. So I find it strange how Tabung Haji can embezzle those funds. I was shocked and surprised that Tabung Haji funds, too, can be misappropriated,” said the civil servant with nearly RM100,000 in his account.

Retired civil servant Junainah Abdul, 61, said she was disappointed when she read about the alleged wrongdoings by the Tabung Haji board.

“I can’t imagine that this would happen. I have only a few thousand. And until now, I have yet to fulfil the haj. That’s what worries me a lot,” she said.

According to Tabung Haji’s website, there were around 9.2 million depositors as at 2017. The fund paid out a 4.5% interest that year.

On December 10, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the Tabung Haji board had violated the Tabung Haji Act 1995 by paying hibah to depositors while its accounts recorded a deficit of RM4.1 billion.

Tabung Haji group managing director and CEO Zukri Samat is part of the new management tasked with its rehabilitation and restructuring plan. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, December 12, 2018.

Tabung Haji also paid out hibah from depositors’ savings accounts and not profits as declared, according to an audit report on the financial status of the Tabung Haji board for 2018 by accounting firm PwC. The report was released in Parliament on Monday.

Former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has denied any wrongdoing by the fund’s previous management, accusing the government of revealing only selected facts from a financial report on the fund’s assets and liabilities.

Azeez said Mujahid was wrong to have looked at only the 2017 financial statement on Tabung Haji’s assets of RM70.3 billion and liabilities of RM74.4 billion, as reported by PWC.

Mujahid did not take into account an Ernst & Young report that looked at other assets held by subsidiaries, joint ventures and real estate for the three years between 2015 and 2017.

“I stress that the Tabung Haji management never violated the act and did not do any wrong as alleged,” Azeez said in a statement yesterday.

“The Ernst & Young report was also in the PwC report given to MPs yesterday and it shows that Tabung Haji’s assets were greater than its liabilities for all three years.

“This has been confirmed by an external auditor as well as the auditor-general.

“Therefore, Tabung Haji has paid hibah according to the law and did not do anything wrong.”

Mujahid yesterday also announced that a special purpose vehicle would take over Tabung Haji’s troubled assets, while the new management would develop a turnaround plan for the fund. – December 12, 2018.

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Comments

  • If this happens to another bank or the depositor is mostly Chinese, I am sure most of the depositor will make a run to the bank come what may. The difference here is all the depositiors are Malay Muslim, they are all so chillax. Wake up fellow countrymen, the earlier you shift your saving the better you will be, shift back to TH only when things are good, right now the liabilities will continue to eat up your saving. Even the dividend you received is questionable so better move your money for the time being to a safer financial institution.

    Posted 5 years ago by Butter Scotch · Reply

  • Malays are too much into RELIGION Ritually n Physically until their MINDS have Stopped Thinking what is RIGHT n what is WRONG. Some malays hv been seen Supporting the Wrong Doers openly without feeling guilty. It is amazing .

    Posted 5 years ago by Tharan Singh · Reply

  • But if it was a NON MALAY who would hv LOOTED their Money the malays will take the shit out of him/her.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tharan Singh · Reply

  • Azeez with the approval of the worlds biggest crook ran TH like a ponzi scheme. This will make it the worst ponzi scheme in the world !!! So many world records...who care about the Olympics !!

    Posted 5 years ago by Alphonz Jayaraman · Reply

  • I always thought it was against Islamic law to pay interest. You learn something new every day. Dividend can only be paid from profits. If there were no profits then any payment is interest.

    Posted 5 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply