Tabung Haji RCI report delay: Religious minister questions why Ismail Sabri sat on findings first

Tuesday 22 Sep 2026

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KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 11): Questions over why the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) was not released quickly after its completion in July 2022 should first be directed at the government led by then prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Dr Zulkifli Hasan.

Pushing back against MPs accusing the current administration of keeping the report "under wraps" for almost four years, Zulkifli pointed out that Ismail Sabri’s administration was still in power when the inquiry concluded.

“Why did the government led by the member of Parliament for Bera [Ismail Sabri] not disclose the RCI report? Why did the MPs whom I mentioned earlier not raise this directly with the government at the time?” Zulkifli said when winding up Tuesday’s special Dewan Rakyat debate on the RCI report.

He reiterated that the current government held back the report's disclosure to allow TH time to implement the RCI’s recommendations, manage its underperforming legacy assets and rebuild public confidence.

The government declassified and published the RCI two weeks ago, on July 29, before convening the special Dewan Rakyat sitting on Tuesday to debate its findings.

The RCI examined TH’s management and operations between 2014 and 2020, including its financial reporting, investment decisions, governance structure and the post-2018 restructuring involving Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd (UJSB).

The six-member commission, chaired by former chief justice Tun Md Raus Sharif, was formally appointed by the King on Jan 20, 2022. The report, dated July 19, 2022, was presented to the King less than two months later on Aug 30, when Ismail Sabri was still the prime minister.

Parliament was then dissolved on Oct 10 that year, ahead of the 15th general election on Nov 19. Ismail Sabri remained as caretaker prime minister until Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in on Nov 24, 2022.

“Although improvements had been undertaken through the recovery plan since 2018, TH still had to manage underperforming and troubled legacy assets that remained within the institution. In 2019, there was a crisis of confidence and about RM6 billion was withdrawn by depositors within a short period,” Zulkifli added.

The minister's response came after several Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs sought to shift part of the debate towards decisions made after BN lost federal power in May 2018, particularly TH’s restructuring and the establishment of UJSB.

BN led the federal government during much of the period under investigation, when TH's core accounting, governance and investment failures occurred. By 2017, TH’s financial position had deteriorated significantly, the RCI found, as political considerations influenced key decisions involving hibah, hajj charges and the composition of its board.

During Tuesday’s debate, however, BN MPs defended their own coalition against claims that its political leaders had “plundered” the pilgrims’ fund, arguing that the report contained no explicit findings of wrongdoing against specific political figures.

Edited ByTan Choe Choe

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