Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the loss of the Retirement Fund (KWAP) investment in Indonesian startup, eFishery, was due to a carefully planned fraud by the company's management.
According to him, the investment decision was made in accordance with the prescribed due diligence and governance process, based on financial statements that had been audited and certified by international auditors.
The investor consortium, including KWAP, also conducted an independent review before approving the investment.
Anwar explained that the investment in eFishery was also participated in by several international institutional investors such as Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund and Northstar, each of which has an international standard investment assessment and control process.
Following the discovery of the fraud, the investor consortium including KWAP has initiated legal action, efforts to recover the funds and review the investment governance and control process to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
KWAP has also conducted a comprehensive review of its investment assessment, approval and monitoring processes. Improvements have been implemented to strengthen the protection of civil servants' retirement funds and increase the level of institutional transparency and accountability.
KWAP invested US$47.7 million, equivalent to approximately RM203 million, in eFishery in July 2023.
The company was previously known as a fast-growing aquaculture technology company, but its co-founder, Gibran Huzaifah, was later sentenced to prison in Indonesia after being convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
