Commotion in Parliament after Mujahid says BN govt ‘buat tahi’ with Tabung Haji

KUALA LUMPUR: A huge commotion erupted in Parliament after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa accused the previous government of “buat tahi” (making a mess) in handling the finances of Tabung Haji.

He said the Pakatan Harapan government was in the midst of restructuring and restoring Tabung Haji's balance sheet after it was left with a deficit of RM4.1bil by the previous government.

“They (the opposition) should know what we are doing, but instead they throw a lot of accusations about Tabung Haji as if we are trying to sell Tabung Haji, and (saying that) Tabung Haji is now under DAP and others, when in reality we are taking steps and are trying to rescue it from the previous people who ‘buat tahi’,” he said during Question Time.

Several opposition MPs immediately stood up, including Datuk Seri Azeez Abdul Rahim (BN-Baling), Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak), and Awang Hashim (PAS-Pendang), demanding that Mujahid retract his remarks.

Datuk Ahmad Nazlan Idris (Jerantut-BN) said: “Speaker, how can a minister who wears a songkok say the word ‘tahi’?”

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof then asked Muhajid to retract his remarks.

Mujahid retracted his remark, saying, “I retract that the previous leadership ‘buat tahi’, the previous leadership actually created disturbances (onar)”.

To a supplementary from Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (PH-Jeli), who asked whether the government was prepared to hold separate talks for opposition and government lawmakers on the latest development in the matter, Mujahid said it was a good suggestion.

He said the government has made it a top priority to “rescue” Tabung Haji.

It was reported that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Finance Ministry would take over an estimated RM19.9bil worth of Tabung Haji’s underperforming assets.

The pilgrimage savings fund has been rocked by revelations following the release of a report by Mujahid in Parliament, highlighting illegal dividend distributions since 2014, assets shrinkage of RM4.1bil, and claims of accounting irregularities to show a higher profit.

Tabung Haji's reported liabilities of RM74.4bil against total assets of RM70.3bil resulted in a total deficit of RM4.1bil as at Dec 31, 2017.