BANGI, Sept 3 - A member of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Lembaga Tabung Haji has refuted claims that former auditor-general Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad was denied the opportunity to testify before the commission.
Tan Sri Rashid Hussain, also Tabung Haji chairman, said the RCI’s records showed that Madinah had been summoned to appear before the commission on June 3, 2022, but requested that the deputy director of financial audit Mona Osman be allowed to come with her to testify.
“It is impossible to believe that we would not have called her to appear before us. Our records showed that she was subpoenaed to appear on June 3, 2022.
“But she requested not to come alone, but instead to be accompanied by her deputy director, Mona Osman,” he told the media after attending a dialogue discussing the reality and future of Tabung Haji today.
As RCI examined witnesses one-to-one, the RCI decided to call Mona to testify on June 2, 2022.
Rashid added that Madinah was also given the opportunity to provide her views through 75 questions submitted to her, which she answered under a statutory declaration.
“She submitted her answers to the 75 questions, together with an accompanying letter, and all these are recorded in our witness statement records. So, it is not true to say that she did not have an opportunity to be represented or to provide her views,” he said.
The clarification was made to set the record straight following claims that Madinah had not been given an opportunity to testify before the RCI.
Last Tuesday (August 25), Madinah said the RCI might have reached different findings had she been called to testify before the commission.
Madinah, who served as Auditor-General from 2017 to 2019, said the 2017 Auditor-General's Report prepared by her team had not identified any evidence of direct theft involving Tabung Haji.
On July 29, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department published the 211-page RCI Report on the investigation into Tabung Haji's management and operations from 2014 to 2020.
The report outlined weaknesses in the institution’s management during the period and made 25 recommendations for improvement, 75 per cent of which Tabung Haji had implemented as of July 30.
