KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) was deceived into investing nearly RM200 million in eFishery as a result of a “premeditated fraud” by the Indonesian agritech start-up, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The fraud came in the form of the start-up’s management manipulation of financial reports, which other international institutional investors also fell victim to, Anwar noted.
“The decision went through the evaluation and governance process, based on the information available at the time, which included verification of financial statements by internationally recognised certified auditors,” Anwar said in a written parliamentary reply on Wednesday (July 15).
“At the same time, the consortium of investors, including KWAP, also carried out independent due diligence to ensure that all information was complete and valid for investment consideration,” he added.
He underlined that several leading international institutional investors and technology funds also invested in eFishery. This included Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund and Northstar.
“Nevertheless, the eFishery investment was a premeditated fraud, and there was manipulation of financial reports by the management of eFishery,” he said.
In 2023, eFishery was reported to have secured US$200 million from its Series D Funding round. Of this sum, US$47.7 million (RM194.35 million) was from KWAP.
Anwar was responding to Subang member of Parliament Wong Chen who asked what accountability measures had been or would be taken against KWAP’s board, investment panel and senior management over the approval and oversight of the investment.
Anwar said the consortium of investors, including KWAP, has initiated legal action and efforts to recover the funds.
He added that KWAP has also conducted a comprehensive review of the evaluation, approval and oversight processes for the investment, with the findings presented to the KWAP board for scrutiny and deliberation.
“Following those deliberations, follow-up actions have been taken in accordance with the institutional governance framework and principles of accountability,” he said.
“KWAP remains committed to managing the retirement funds of civil servants in a transparent, ethical and accountable manner. Improvements have been implemented to strengthen safeguards for future investment,” he added.
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