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Don't stop at THHE, probe Tabung Haji too, Rafizi tells MACC
Published:  Nov 17, 2016 2:44 PM
Updated: Nov 18, 2016 10:15 PM

While the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) investigations into apparent corruption in TH Heavy Engineering Berhad (THHE) is laudable, the anti-graft body should not stop there and must investigate its parent company, Tabung Haji, as well.

This, argued Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, is that while there may be corruption in the subsidiary, the decision to continue pumping public funds into THHE, even after it lost so much money, may signal that something is rotten in the house of Tabung Haji.

"The bigger question is how the Tabung Haji senior management, including its board of directors and investment panel, made the decision to invest in a company which, prior to the investment by the pilgrimage fund into THHE, had courted controversy when it was still Ramunia Holdings Bhd," Rafizi asked in a statement.

And more importantly, Rafizi argued, MACC must investigate why Tabung Haji, which only has a 30 percent stake in THHE, continued to pour depositor funds into the troubled subsidiary after it tanked, to keep it afloat.

The Tabung Haji management, from its CEO down who are responsible for all decisions, as well as the board of directors and investment panel, which vet those decisions, must be probed to ensure that there is no element of negligence that caused such heavy losses in bad investments, Rafizi said.

"I will await the Tabung Haji response to the matter and will consider lodging several police reports against the company’s top guns next week, if they are not transparent about this," he added.

Rafizi also praised the MACC for its vigilance in investigating reports of weaknesses in THHE management, which have already led to millions of ringgit in losses.

Prior to this, Rafizi has been consistently exposing what he claimed to be serious lapses in the management of THHE and its parent company, alleging losses of millions of ringgit in depositor funds channelled into the reportedly troubled firm.

On Monday, MACC picked up a former high ranking member of THHE management for alleged corruption.

The Edge Financial Daily today reported that THHE pledged to extend its fullest cooperation to the MACC investigation relating to the group’s former managing director and chief executive officer Nor Badli Munawir Mohamad Alias Lafti.

“The company is committed to supporting any effort to enhance transparency, accountability, integrity and ethical business practices as key features of its good corporate governance,” said THHE in a statement yesterday.

“Considering that the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation, we will not be making any further comment for now.

“Nevertheless, we will continue to provide our fullest cooperation to the authorities to enable them to carry out a detailed and thorough investigation,” it added.


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