PETALING JAYA: Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan (pic) has lashed out at the opposition for “maliciously” claiming that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is facing financial difficulties.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said EPF would not be paying a dividend at all if it was in financial difficulties or had made a loss.
“If it was in financial difficulties or made a loss, EPF would not be paying a dividend at all – what more a healthy 5.7% dividend for 2016,” he said in a statement Friday.
Parti Amanah Negara’s former MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, DAP’s Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had alleged that the EPF had to lower its dividend rate of 5.7% for 2016 compared with 6.4% the previous year due to its investment in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) worth RM1.72bil.
But Abdul Rahman, who is also Barisan Nasional strategic communications director, pointed out the EPF’s exposure in 1MDB was RM200mil, and not RM1.72bil as claimed by the opposition leaders.
And the investment, he added, was in the form of 30-year sukuk (Islamic bond) issued in the year 2009 and fully guaranteed by the government.
“To clarify further, EPF also has exposure of RM1.5bil in bonds for two Independent Power Producer (IPP) plants – Panglima Power Sdn Bhd (PPSB) and Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd (JEV).
“These bonds were subscribed by EPF in the year 2003 and 2005 respectively before 1MDB was founded and are backed by healthy cash-flow.
“As is widely known, these two IPPs were previously acquired by 1MDB but have since been sold in a deal completed in March 2016, which was part of 1MDB’s rationalisation exercise.
“Hence, these two bonds are no longer associated with 1MDB,” he said.
Abdul Rahman, the Kota Belud MP, added that the three bonds were fixed income bonds that pay fixed coupons and have never been in default.
“EPF has not lost a single sen in them. Additionally, EPF’s remaining RM200mil exposure to 1MDB’s government guaranteed sukuk is just 0.027% of EPF’s total assets of RM731bil,” he said.
He added that EPF will perform even better in 2017 as it had recorded an average annual divided rate of 4.99% between 2000 and 2008, and had increased to 6.1% between 2009 and 2016.
“Given historical dividends since the year 2000, the current global and regional economic situation and the performance of other provident funds and mutual funds in the region, EPF’s 5.7% dividend for 2016 is commendable.
“As current or former Members of Parliament, the three Opposition leaders have failed their sworn duties to be honest to the people when they made such ridiculous claims in their joint statement. They must not repeat this in future,” he said.-thestar
