PUTRAJAYA: Tabung Haji (TH) depositors need not return dividends over concerns it may have been tainted with illegality, assured Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said that this is because depositors were unaware of any misappropriation that may have taken place in TH.
Mujahid, who is in charge of religious affairs, said that any related wrongdoing involved the past management of TH.
“They (depositors) were unaware of any misappropriation that may have happened. We leave it at that.
“There is no need for paying back (the TH dividend) as it would create problems and that it (any misappropriation in TH) involved the management.
“What we try to do now is to repair the management.
“They do not need to worry about paying back (the dividends) as it was at the management level (where any misappropriation may have taken place),” he said at a press conference at the Finance Ministry here today.
He was there to receive a mock cheque of RM25 million from Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as Budget 2019 allocation for registered "sekolah pondok."
In early December last year, Mujahid had claimed that TH had been illegally paying out dividends (hibah) to its depositors since 2014.
He alleged that the dividend payments had contravened the Tabung Haji Act 1995 as TH had more debts than assets in the previous years.
He had cited TH’s 2017 financial report, tabled in Parliament in December last year, which showed that it has more liabilities (RM74.4bil) than its total assets (RM70.3bil).
This meant a total deficit of RM4.1bil as of Dec 31, 2017.
Meanwhile, Mujahid said that the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) will monitor all eateries within the Federal Territories to ensure they comply with existing laws especially in halal food offerings.
“We have a mechanism which is going through reports from members of the public and (religious) enforcement (unit) which receive complaints.
“After the facts have been clarified, we would take appropriate action with other related agencies,” he said.
Mujahid was responding to what action would be taken over a recent report that a popular restaurant at Section 25, Shah Alam, was found to have no valid halal certificate despite promoting itself as a Muslim eatery.
The food outlet, festooned with displays of Quranic verses and messages in Jawi, was discovered to have obtained raw foodstuff from non-halal certified suppliers.
The eatery was exposed by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), whose officers with the cooperation of officers from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, had carried out a spot check on its premises on Sunday.