Tabung Haji police reports done in bad faith, claims former chairman Abdul Azeez

KUALA LUMPUR: The two recent police reports lodged by Lembaga Tabung Haji over accusations of misusing RM22mil from the Tabung Haji Foundation (YTH) to fund political programmes were done in bad faith, claimed its former chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.

According to Abdul Azeez, during his tenure as chairman, YTH had never used funds by depositors to organise charitable activities as mandated in the YTH memorandum.

The RM22mil collected by YTH in 2017, Abdul Azeez said, were received from various sources such as contributions from the corporate sector, allocations by the government and also from individuals.

“I believe these reports were lodged against me with bad intentions,” he told reporters in Parliament on Monday (Dec 3).

Out of the RM22mil, Abdul Azeez said that RM7mil consist of investments and business profits from Lembaga Tabung Haji.

“The remainder consists of contributions from Umno, the federal government, and companies,” he said.

Last Friday (Nov 30), Lembaga Tabung Haji lodged two police reports against Abdul Aziz, former chief executive officers Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah, as well as senior management staff.

The first report involves YTH 2017 programmes where funds totalling over RM22mil were disbursed for activities with political inclinations.

The second report was related to alleged misrepresentations and withholding of material information involving TH’s 2012 sale of 95% shareholdings in PT TH Indo Plantations held by two of its subsidiaries - namely TH Indopalms Sdn Bhd (THI) and TH Indo Industries Sdn Bhd (THII) - to PT Borneo Pacific (PT Borneo) for US$910mil (RM3.78bil).

However, Abdul Azeez said he will give full cooperation to the authorities investigating the matter.

“I’m ready to cooperate and I welcome the authorities to speed up investigations on the police reports made so Malaysians won’t be doubtful and make judgements based on perception from the media,” he added.