RETIREMENT Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP), fell victim to an Indonesian aquaculture startup, eFishery, following the company's manipulation of financial reports to attract investment.
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the eFishery investment decision was made through an assessment process and governance process based on available information which included verification of financial statements from accredited international auditors.
He said the investor consortium including KWAP had also carried out independent due diligence to ensure that all information was complete and valid for investment consideration.
“The investment in eFishery was also joined by several leading international institutional investors and technology funds including Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund and Northstar.
“These investors also have an international standard investment assessment, control and governance process,” he said in a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question from Wong Chen (PH-Subang) who asked the government to state what form of responsibility and accountability has been or will be taken against members of the Board of Directors, investment panel and top management of KWAP regarding the approval and monitoring of the investment in eFishery which resulted in huge losses involving the civil servants’ retirement fund.
Anwar said that firm steps in terms of legal action, fund recovery, internal governance review and also strengthening of controls have been taken by the investment consortium including KWAP.
He said that KWAP had carried out a comprehensive review of the assessment, approval and monitoring process of the investment and the results of the review had been presented to the KWAP Board for detailed scrutiny and discussion.
“Following the discussion, follow-up actions have been taken in line with the governance framework and principles institutional accountability.
“KWAP remains committed to managing civil servants’ retirement funds transparently, with integrity and accountability. Improvement measures have been implemented to strengthen protection of future investment interests,” he said.
Previously, KWAP was reported to have invested US$47.7 million (about RM200 million) in eFishery in July 2023.
The start-up was promoted as a technology-based aquaculture firm that is said to be able to modernize the fish and shrimp farming industry through digital solutions.
However, last year, its co-founder, Gibran Huzaifah, was sentenced to nine years in prison by a court in Bandung, Indonesia after being convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering. – July 16, 2026
