KUALA LUMPUR: Tabung Haji’s (TH) investment in Putrajaya Perdana Bhd (PPB), coupled with the appointment of its then chairman as PPB chairman, drew the pilgrims’ fund into 1MDB’s transactions and ultimately resulted in losses of RM145.3 million, religious affairs minister Zulkifli Hasan said today.
He said PPB was among 14 problematic investments linked to losses totalling billions of ringgit in the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report on TH.
He said TH also purchased land at the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) from 1MDB when the controversy surrounding the sovereign wealth fund was at its peak.
“A big question arises from the fact that TH’s CEO was also a member of 1MDB’s board of directors.
“Was the investment at that time in the interests of TH, or to solve the problems of other parties?” he said during a special briefing on the RCI report in the Dewan Rakyat.
The minister said the listing of FGV Holdings, hailed as the country’s largest initial public offering after raising more than RM10 billion, also affected TH later, when it incurred losses of over RM1 billion.
“When the share prices fell, TH continued to hold the shares even though their value had fallen by more than 80%, while only making changes to the impairment policy to ‘hide’ and obscure the losses,” he said.
Zulkifli said since TH’s financial standing is now stronger, it had purchased back the land in TRX, which it sold in 2018 for RM400 million, at a price of RM270 million based on the current market value.
TH also acquired the oil palm plantation of UJ Estates (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, which it sold for RM800 million, at a current market value of RM695 million this year.
