KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said today it has called up the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) for questioning over its financial status, since its reserves are currently at negative.
PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said that LTAT’s proceeding will be held after Aidilfitri.
“PAC will call all related individuals from LTAT, including the three top management who resigned.
“They were LTAT’s former chairman, former chief executive officer and former senior strategic director,” she said in a statement.
She said PAC would also consider summoning the Defence Minister if needed as she explained that the matter is critical involving 122,936 contributors, who are members of the Malaysian Armed Forces, as of March 13 last year.
“The disclosure of LTAT’s reserve which is at negative now raises the question of its ability to pay the dividends to contributors,” she said.
Yesterday, the Auditor-General’s Report revealed that LTAT’s reserves have consistently been in the negative territory since 2020, recording figures of RM0.376 billion in 2020, RM0.285 billion in 2021, and RM0.338 billion in 2022.
It said as of December 31, 2022, there are still 41 old stock portfolios that haven’t been addressed, leading to an unrealised loss of RM0.662 billion, contributing to the negative reserve.
Mas Ermieyati said PAC will also summon another two agencies — Felda and Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia — after completing LTAT proceedings.
“All these three agencies are summoned following a detail briefing on the financial status given by the Auditor-General Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi yesterday to PAC based on the latest Auditor-General’s Report.
“The Auditor-General has listed these agencies for the consideration of PAC following a problem in their 2022 financial statements,” she said.
Separately, Mas Ermieyati also said that PAC is currently tabling six reports in the latest Parliament sitting.
She added that PAC will also table the progress report on the Second Generation Patrol Ship Development Project-Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) of the Royal Malaysian Navy for the period October 2022 to May 2023 (DR.6/2023) and June to September 2023 (DR.13/2023) on Feb 29.