KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 20): Lembaga Tabung Haji has announced the appointment of Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Hussain as the new chairman of the pilgrim fund, taking over from Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, who has served the position for two years from Dec 20, 2021.

Abdul Rashid’s appointment is effective Wednesday. Abdul Rashid, who is known as co-founder of Rashid Hussain Securities and the RHB Group, was also one of six members of the Tabung Haji Royal Commission of Inquiry (TH RCI) set up in 2022 to review the fund’s operations in the 2014-2020 period.

“TH welcomes the appointment and is grateful to receive a respected and experienced corporate figure who was also the founder of RHB Group, one of the biggest banking groups in the country,” said TH Group MD and CEO Syed Hamadah Syed Othman in a statement.

“We are confident that our collective effort to strengthen TH will continue with his experience and leadership,” he added.

Abdul Rashid established Rashid Hussain Securities in 1983, and built it to become RHB Group. He also served on the board of Khazanah Nasional Bhd from 1994 to 1998, and was chairman of its executive committee in the period.

In 1995 to 2000, Abdul Rashid served as chairman of Putrajaya Holdings Bhd.

In expressing gratitude to Azman, TH said that the former chairman has contributed towards strengthening the fund’s financial position, where total deposits grew almost 7% from Jan 1, 2022 to Nov 30, 2023.

Abdul Rashid’s appointment follows other recent changes at the helm in several government-linked companies (GLCs) and agencies.

This includes the Inland Revenue Board, Khazanah Nasional Bhd-linked Tenaga Nasional Bhd, as well as UMW Holdings Bhd, which was recently acquired by Sime Darby Bhd from Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

One appointment that is pending is the CEO position of the Employees Provident Fund, following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s decision to appoint Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan as Minister of Finance II as part of the Cabinet reshuffling.

Another is the CEO of government-linked 5G infrastructure outfit Digital Nasional Bhd, following the end of Augustus Ralph Marshall’s contract in March.

The unity government, since its formation in November last year, also saw several GLC heads retaining their positions.

This includes Petronas president and CEO Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz and Khazanah-linked CIMB Group Holdings Bhd CEO Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad, whose contracts were extended in June; as well as MRT Corp Bhd CEO Datuk Mohd Zarif Hashim in November.

TH, a fund that was formed to help generate savings and subsidise haj costs for pilgrims, has been in the spotlight since 2018 following mismanagement that led to its liabilities exceeding its assets, rendering it unable to provide profit distribution to its depositors.

This prompted a restructuring that saw a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by the Pakatan Harapan government to take over RM9.63 billion worth of underperforming assets from the fund, in exchange for a RM19.6 billion sukuk from the SPV Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd and RM300 million cash to shore up its financial position.

In September, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government will initiate discussions to return the assets held by Urusharta Jamaah back to TH “once TH is managed well and secure”.

Urusharta Jamaah's audited financial statement showed that it held RM9.06 billion in assets, against RM22.42 billion in liabilities as at end-2022.

According to the Auditor General’s Report on the federal government financial statement 2022, Urusharta Jamaah has redeemed RM200 million worth of sukuk in January this year.

In February, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religion) Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar was reported as saying that the Cabinet will make a decision on the TH RCI report.

The TH RCI, which was initiated in January 2022 by the Perikatan Nasional government, has been completed and its report has been presented to both the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the government.

This year, TH has kept its annual profit distribution for the year 2022 at 3.1%, unchanged for the third straight year, although total full-year distribution rose to RM2.65 billion for 2022, from RM2.46 billion a year ago. The pilgrim fund recorded gross income of RM3.85 billion in 2022, compared with RM3.72 billion a year ago.

Read also:
About Abdul Rashid, the newly appointed chairman of Tabung Haji
Tabung Haji to begin talks with MOF on return of assets
PM: Govt to return RM20b of Tabung Haji assets under MOF SPV to pilgrim fund
MoF: Tabung Haji to undergo operational revamp, to be made prescribed financial institution under BNM purview