People waking up to the nonsense at gov't run funds

From The Edge:

KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (Tabung Haji) yesterday admitted to buying a 1.56-acre (0.63ha) of land within the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for RM188.5 million, a move that critics say is to inject cash into the controversial debt-stricken company owned by the Ministry of Finance.

This confirmation by Tabung Haji came a day after its  chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim denied via his Twitter account an article by a blog called The Benchmark that the pilgrims’fund will spend over RM700 million to buy land in TRX from 1MDB which is facing an acute cash flow problem.

In a statement yesterday, Tabung Haji said the purchase of another bigger parcel of land was just a proposal.

“Leakages of proposed papers are not proof of approved investment decisions,” said Datuk Johan Abdullah who is Tabung Haji deputy group managing director and deputy chief executive officer.

I've complained about how KWSP invests in things like SRC International which is strictly out of normal pension fund's mandates.  Liquid equity stocks are what these big funds should be allowed to do or shopping mall REITs.

Now, the article is focusing on the obvious related party transactions and the how property development, which even the EPF doesn't do can make its way into Lembaga Tabung Haji.  Before, I've never really seen articles criticize out of mandate investments, even when I was commenting about KWSP with their out of mandate investment on SRC International.

I guess the Edge has been reading my articles.  Okay maybe not, I'm just a small time blogger, but if Lembaga Tabung Haji's mandate is to keep to bonds and liquid equity stocks, they are out of mandate and have violated their duties to their clients by investing in things that they should know better not to invest in.  It's the most basic ethic in running a fund. Someone should get a hold of their mandate and take them to task.