A SCANDAL is brewing in a religious research institute which falls under the purview of the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) over alleged mismanagement of zakat funds of RM10 million.

While MAIWP has done an audit on the whereabouts of the money, the Institute of Islamic Strategic Research Malaysia (Iksim) is disputing the audit process on its expenditure involving the RM10 million.

According to several documents sighted by The Malaysian Insight, Iksim is relying on technical grounds to say that it does not fall under the purview of MAIWP for it to be subjected to such audits.

MAIWP, on the other hand, insists that it has the right to perform a financial examination after channelling the funds last January.

The trouble seems to have started after Pakatan Harapan took over last May, following which it froze the institute’s bank account and perform an audit.

To this, in a letter sighted by The Malaysian Insight, Iksim submitted a notice of objection to MAIWP last July, saying that the state religious authority has no right to perform the audit.

Iksim said it was formed as a company whereas MAIWP falls under the purview of the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 (Act 505).

“The MAIWP internal audit team has failed to understand the separate legal entity between Iksim that was formed under the ‘Syarikat Berhad Menurut jaminan (SBMJ)’ under Companies Act 1975.

“Iksim is not a MAIWP’s subsidiary that allows it to be audited. It has been professionally audited by an independent auditor in 2015 and 2016,” the letter said.

However, the institute added that it had allowed the audit for fear of not obtaining future funds.

“Iksim was threatened with RM2 million worth of funding, therefore, it had to allow the audit from MAIWP,” the institute stated in the letter.

The documents seen by The Malaysian Insight also revealed that the issue is not just limited to the audit process and the alleged mismanagement of funds.

Iksim also claims that its administration and financial documents related to the institute were stolen by its two top former officers.

The state religious council sanctioned RM10 million to Iksim in January 2018 and this was disbursed in three stages.

According to MAIWP chief Paimuzi Yahya, Iksim must provide its financial report to Baitulmal MAIWP, and must allow an examination to be performed on the amount of money received and used.

Last August, Minister in charge of Islamic affairs Mujahid Yusof Rawa said an internal audit at Iksim could not account for RM7.4 million.

Mujahid said based on an internal audit, RM7.6 million was disbursed to Iksim. There was no evidence on how RM7.4 million was spent, he added. 

Iksim responded by accusing Mujahid of slander and accused MAIWP’s auditing team of being a non-accredited auditing agency.

Iksim, a brainchild of former prime minister Najib Razak, was formed in December 2014, aimed at upholding Islam and the institution of the Malay rulers.

PH politicians, however, allege the think-tank was used as a political tool to attack the then opposition and urged the government to shut it. – May 6, 2019.