KUALA LUMPUR – Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-PH) called on the government to explain the rationale behind the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) allegedly placing their funds overseas.
Seeking clarification on the matter, the PKR president stressed that any mismanagement of funds should be taken action against as the fund was set up to ensure the wellbeing of poor and retired army veterans.
“It (LTAT) is supposed to channel its existing funds to local investments.
“If they fail to do this, they are in the same basket as (those listed in) the Pandora Papers,” he claimed while debating the Armed Forces Fund (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Pandora Papers revealed financial information on 35 current and former world leaders, and over 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories.
In October last year, Anwar had filed a motion to debate the issue in Parliament.
His request was later dismissed by Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, who said the RM900 billion outflow revealed in the expose is “not urgent”.
Additionally, Anwar said today that investigations on the matter should be carried out instead of merely establishing a new board, emphasising that the latter will not resolve the issue.
“If the matter is left as it is, veterans from the B40 bracket will become victims. The problem now is governance… it should be corrected instead of setting up a new committee,” he said.
Besides pressing for tighter enforcement to make sure that fund misappropriations are prevented, he also proposed for the board’s chief executive to be given the mandate to correct prior mistakes, including fund mismanagement and bribery.
Last week, the Armed Forces Fund Board Staff Union staged a picket outside the company headquarters in Jalan Bukit Bintang here, claiming that their welfare had been ignored while upper management enjoyed luxuries at their expense.
Subsequently, LTAT said that a portion of its staffers will see their salaries adjusted up to 36% as well as a cost of living payment of RM5,200 each.
In June, following a protest by at least 500 veterans at the Taman Tugu National Monument , Anwar urged Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong-BN) to immediately resolve longstanding issues involving the country’s army veterans.
The veterans held a peaceful assembly to issue several demands, such as improved pension schemes and other complaints that had been brought to the ministry over the last eight years. – The Vibes, August 1, 2022
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