Govt could have faced RM74.5b liability from Tabung Haji bank run in 2018, says Zulkifli

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — The government risked assuming liabilities of about RM74.5 billion if a massive panic withdrawal, or “bank run”, had occurred in 2018, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan.

He noted that a panic withdrawal did occur in 2019, involving net withdrawals of RM6 billion within a short period following the announcement of a 1.25 per cent hibah for 2018 in early 2019.

“Imagine if no hibah had been declared. How much panic withdrawal could have occurred?” he said during a ministerial briefing on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Tabung Haji (TH), as well as the efforts and measures taken to restore the institution’s financial position, at a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said that technically, TH was insolvent at the time and needed to be rescued, forcing the Pakatan Harapan government to step in with a restructuring plan aimed at restoring TH’s financial position, allowing the institution to return to solvency and remain financially sustainable in the long term. — Bernama