Tabung Haji denies creative accounting in bonus payout

Haj fund Lembaga Tabung Haji said it was still in the black after paying out bonuses for last year and did not dip into its reserves for the payout, following a suggestion from an opposition party that it used its reserves to pay dividends. In a statement today, Tabung Haji said that its accumulated profit stood at RM609 million compared with RM293 million as at the end of 2014. Last week, Parti Amanah Negara had urged the fund to reveal the source for its dividend and bonus for the year 2015, saying it should not be dipping into its reserves following Bank Negara Malaysia's warning that they were in the red. The party was commenting on Tabung Haji's announcement of a 5% dividend for 2015 to its depositors and an additional 3% haj bonus to contributors who had not yet performed the Muslim pilgrimage. The fund said there are two categories of its reserves,distributable and non-distributable. The distributable portion is made up of accumulated profits and also current year profits, while the non-distributable is from AFS (available for sale) reserve that changes according to the share price, it said. Tabung Haji added that the auditor-general had confirmed on February 3 that the fund's accounting policy was consistent and prudent. "As such, there is no issue about Tabung Haji using 'creative accounting' as alleged by some quarters," the fund said. Tabung Haji added that it had credited RM3.2 billion bonus payout to 8.85 million depositors on Monday. – February 10, 2016.