TRANSFERRING Tabung Haji’s (TH) problematic assets to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) has closed the gap between its assets and liabilities, said Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs said the transferred assets, worth RM19.9 billion, placed TH’s assets at RM76.5 billion, compared with the RM75.5 billion in assets and deposits recorded as of December last year.

“The transfer is aimed at safeguarding the interests of depositors and allowing them to obtain hibah distribution under the TH Act 1995, that is, assets must exceed liabilities if we want to give dividends.

“Before Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya, the assets were lower than the liabilities, but the previous leadership still paid dividends, leading to us inheriting a RM4.1 billion deficit according to the December 2017 financial position,” he told Parliament today.

He was replying to Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol), who asked whether the transfer of assets to the SPV will affect dividend payments to depositors of the pilgrims’ fund.

Mujahid said the transfer will not affect the payments, adding that the dividend rate will be announced soon.

To a supplementary question by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PH-Setiawangsa), he said the asset transfer followed former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz sounding the alarm over TH’s reserves.

Mujahid said TH’s uncontrolled dividend payments and inaccurate financial reporting had affected depositors wishing to perform the haj.

“BNM raised the alarm about this problem in 2014, but we were in the opposition then.

“So now that we are the government, (dealing with the issue) is our priority, by means of the SPV, and we have managed to revive TH.” – Bernama, March 18, 2019.