Tabung Haji RCI report: Anwar questions 13-month bonus payout, calls it breach of trust
KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has described the alleged payment of 13 months’ worth of bonuses to Tabung Haji staff despite the institution recording losses as a breach of trust.
The issue was among several concerns raised in the Tabung Haji inquiry report, The Star reported today.
Anwar was responding to reports that the pilgrimage fund had paid staff bonuses amounting to 13 months’ salary.
He said such payments were among the many issues highlighted in the report, questioning how a loss-making institution could justify rewarding employees in such a manner.
“How could a company making losses report in that way? How could rewards be given without regard for the standing of the institution?” he said after Friday prayers at a mosque in Paroi near Seremban today.
Anwar said he was personally upset by the findings, adding that a religious institution had been brought into disrepute by those entrusted with managing it.
“I myself am upset,” he said.
“A religious institution, an Islamic institution, brought to shame by Malays who were given the trust. To me, that breach of trust is treachery,” he said.
He said the inquiry report should first be read and debated before conclusions were drawn, adding that the matter was too serious to be reduced to an issue surrounding the state election, which will be held tomorrow.
“It is not a matter of votes, but this is too massive an issue.
“Whether voters can grasp it in a short time is a separate matter. For me, win or lose, this cannot be tolerated,” he said.
