Mat Sabu: LTAT audit manipulated, new one to be re-declared

SEREMBAN: The audit report for the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) will be re-declared after its report last year was found to be manipulated, says Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu.

He said the 2018 audit report did not reflect the real financial situation of the LTAT, which manages the pension fund for members of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

"Soon, the Armed Forces Fund report will be declared. The audit announced in 2018 was a lie," he said in a ceramah in Mambau near here Sunday (April 7).

Earlier, in his speech, Mohamad, who is better known by his moniker Mat Sabu, said that Tabung Haji also suffered the same fate when its financial situation was also manipulated and its previous administration paid hibah (dividend) to depositors using their savings.

That was why Lim Guan Eng as the Finance Minister now had to take the responsibility to inject RM1.78 into it every year over 10 years to rescue the nation's pilgrim fund, said Mat Sabu.

"Tabung Haji is actually being rescued by the Finance Ministry. It's just that whoever becomes the Finance Minister is responsible for injecting RM1.78bil into Tabung Haji every year," he said.

Mat Sabu said also denied rumours that the Islamic financial institution was now being run by the Chinese.

"There was a sermon in a mosque in Kedah during Friday prayers where the preacher claimed the Tabung Haji chairman is a Chinese, which is not true," Mat Sabu said.

The Kota Raja MP was in Rantau on the ninth day of the by-election campaign to stump for Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr S. Streram.

Mat Sabu also pleaded with voters not to be fearful of voting for the anaesthesiologist although he was not a Malay.

"In Pakatan, we will defend every race. Don't be scared, don't be worried, and vote for Pakatan's candidate because the coalition will make every move together," he said.

The Rantau polling day on April 13 will see Dr Streram squaring off against three-term Rantau assemblyman and Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan as well as independent candidates Malar Rajaram and Mohd Nor Yassin.