PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli today alleged political interference in Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) over the pilgrimage fund's decision to retain its stake in Felda Global Ventures (FGV) despite losses amounting to more than RM900 million.

Speaking during a press conference at the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) office in Petaling Jaya, he said the actual fund managers within TH would be fully aware that the decision was one which goes against common investment principles.

"Tabung Haji's decision not to take any action to protect depositors' funds even as its investment in FGV was incurring losses is not the normal professional conduct of an international investment institution," Rafizi claimed.

Based on his checks with Bursa Malaysia, he said TH had only made RM7.6 million profit from the sale of its shares, with the last transaction made on July 12, 2012.

This is despite TH having invested RM1.3 billion of funds in FGV since June 2012 when it was officially listed on Bursa Malaysia.

Instruction from higher-ups

Rafizi also pointed out that TH is currently the third largest stakeholder in FGV and the largest non-Felda related entity with 7.78% stake as of Dec 31, last year.

"Even though FGV shares have been plunging, TH did not take any action to protect its depositors' funds of RM1.3 billion which was invested in FGV.

"TH's action of keeping the FGV's shares, making them lose RM933 million, was obviously related to FGV's position as (Prime Minister) Najib Razak's main administration initiative, although in normal circumstances, an investment institution would not have behaved the way TH did," he pointed out.

Rafizi further claimed that there was "clearly an instruction from the higher-ups" telling TH to keep its shares in FGV.

"The first step of giving assurance to the public that TH is free of political interference is by replacing the current TH chairperson (Abdul Azeez Rahim) with someone worthy.

"I will repeat this again and again until the government replaces Azeez. With all that is happening now, there are enough reasons to remove him from TH," he said.

Public concerns over security of TH's funds were first triggered by a leaked advisory notice from Bank Negara over its allegedly negative reserves.

Azeez and TH's management have, however, repeatedly assured depositors that their funds are secured.