KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — The government rescued Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) through a bailout exceeding RM10 billion due to mismanagement and embezzlement, to restore its financial position and not to take over the institution’s assets, the Dewan Rakyat was informed today.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), Zulkifli Hasan, also emphasised that no assets were sold to non-Muslims or Chinese, as falsely claimed by some irresponsible parties seeking to incite hatred and provoke the public.
The assets are owned by Urusharta Jamaah, a wholly-owned company of the Minister of Finance Incorporated, he noted.
He said this during the minister’s briefing session on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) Report on TH and the efforts and actions taken to restore the financial position of the institution at the Special Sitting of the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said TH is facing a critical situation where the deficit gap between TH’s assets and liabilities has widened to over RM10 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, with only three months to find a solution.
“At that time, TH was insolvent and needed to be rescued. The situation ultimately forced the Pakatan Harapan Government to bail out TH with a restructuring plan to restore its financial position so that TH could become solvent again and remain sustainable in the long term,” he added. — Bernama
