EPF reassures of strong framework to prevent fraud on members' funds

In a statement issued last week, Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund (EPF) reassures its members that there is a strong and robust governance framework in place to prevent fraud on its members' funds.

Elaborating on the framework, EPF revealed that all proposals must firstly go through a stringent investment evaluation process that includes comprehensive analysis, risk assessment and due diligence by EPF's team of experts.

But that's not all, once the proposal passes the first stage of assessment, it is then subject to rigorous deliberation by the Management Investment Committee (MIC), which comprise senior members of the Investment Division as well as members of EPF’s top management.

Only after passing the first two stages is it brought to the Investment Panel (comprising of industry professionals, senior members of the EPF management, as well as representatives from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the government) for further consideration before final approval.

The EPF emphasises that it remains steadfast in fulfilling its mandate to protect and safeguard members' savings - which serve as retirement savings for today's employees.

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Further, the EPF reiterates there has been no transfer of any funds nor bonds as alleged, reaffirming that through the recent annual audit conducted by Jabatan Audit Negara, the bonds in question remain in the ownership of the EPF, via confirmation received from PayNet in January 2018.

PayNet is an approved payment system operator regulated by BNM, as well as being a subsidiary of BNM.

"We further stress that the purported transactions never happened, and both RHB Bank and HSBC Bank have issued statements refuting the allegations," the EPF statement noted.

It added that given the deliberate and repeated attempts to harm the EPF’s reputation and cast doubt on its integrity, legal action is being considered against "those irresponsible parties and individuals who have published such damaging statements."

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