Lembaga Tabung Haji - Savings Are Safe

Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) group MD/CEO Datuk Seri Zukri Samat yesterday assured depositors that their savings are safe.

He said this in response to Bernama’s query on the impact of the recent police reports against TH’s former chairman, its former CEOs and senior management staff.

Zukri said the police reports have not impacted its operations.

“It is business as usual for us. Our depositors should trust that TH will ensure their deposits are secured,” he added.

Last Friday, TH lodged reports with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department in Kuala Lumpur against its former chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, former CEOs Tan Sri Ismee Ismail and Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah, and four senior management staff.

The senior staff are Datuk Adi Azuan (COO) and Datuk Rozaida Omar (CFO), Hazlina Mohd Khalid (legal advisor) and Rifina Md Ariff (senior GM, corporate services and real estate).

The first report involves Yayasan Tabung Haji’s (YTH) 2017 Programme, where funds totalling over RM22 million were alleged to have been disbursed for activities with  political inclinations. This contravenes the memorandum and articles of the association.

The trustees of YTH at the time were Abdul Azeez, Ismee, Johan,  Adi and Rozaida.

YTH was set up in 2016 to undertake, among others, humanitarian aid and to contribute to the underprivileged, the poor and the needy. TH had contributed RM7 million to the programme.

The second report against Ismee, Hazlina and Rifina relates to misrepresentations and withholding of material information involving TH’s 2012 sale of the 95% shareholdings in PT TH Indo Plantations held by its two subsidiaries, TH Indopalms Sdn Bhd (THI) and TH Indo Industries Sdn Bhd (THII), to PT Borneo Pacific for US$910 million (RM3.81 billion).

PT TH Indo Plantations owns a total of 83,000ha of palm oil estates in Indonesia.

The reports lodged last Friday were  the first two following internal investigations into past transactions, spearheaded by the new management, since July 2018.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa had on Saturday issued a statement reiterating that the government would not compromise on action against  anyone involved in the  embezzlement of TH’s depositors’ money.