THE Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM) Board of Trustees (LPA) will review its staff bonuses after it was reported that senior officers in the Islamic body received hefty payments.

Its chairman Mohd Daud Bakar said that the new board has in principle agreed to pay bonus based on its staff performance.

“We are in the midst of creating a new formula as to how should we give out bonuses to our staff including senior management.

“In principle we have agree to give out the bonus based on merit,” he said during a press conference this afternoon.

Daud added that the old scheme used to calculate bonuses for each staff will be scrapped and will also be based on the foundation’s financial situation as well as the country’s economy.

Last Sunday, YaPEIM’s legal head department Adawiah Abdul Samad defended the payment made to the foundation’s senior staff, saying that it was done according to the existing scheme.

She also said that the bonuses were sanctioned by YaPEIM’s board of trustees.

“In YaPEIM, there is a scheme for each staff. This scheme is based on our policy and existing service scheme. If the bonus is high, it is based on this scheme,” Adawiah said, adding that all bonuses had to be approved by the board of trustees.

“This process also had to come from the board of trustees. If the board approves it, only then will we disburse the funds.”

However, Adawiah did not deny that the institution’s management and senior officers received large bonuses.

The Malaysian Insight reported last week that directors received bonuses of RM400,000, senior officers RM250,000, the director-general RM100,000 and others in senior positions RM35,000.

“The director-general and directors of YaPEIM received high salaries and allowances. On top of that, they also received allowances from subsidiaries to which they appointed themselves as directors.

“Each subsidiary paid them allowances of between RM1,500 to RM4,500. YaPEIM has 10 active subsidiaries, which paid out these allowances,” the report read.

YaPEIM falls under government oversight through a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, normally in charge of Islamic affairs. It is managed by its president, deputy president and a board of trustees, whose members are appointed by the minister.

It does not receive government funds but accepts donations and participates in various economic activities, including running supermarkets, gold trading and in the real estate sector, with part of the profits used to fund welfare programmes.

Allegations of financial misappropriation were first revealed by the PKR-linked National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW), whose director, Akmal Nasir, is now Johor Baru MP.

Akmal released a series of exposes in late 2015 on various claims of abuse of power and inappropriate spending by YaPEIM’s top management.

In December the same year, then YaPEIM president Awang Malek Awang Kechil and deputy president Siti Zaleha Hussin resigned from their positions.

Among the questionable investments noted in the restructuring report include an allegation that YaPEIM purchased a building in Putrajaya by taking out a loan from Bank Islam that was higher than the value of the property. – May 15, 2019.