KUALA LUMPUR, JULY 23 — MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran has rejected calls for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to resign as Finance Minister following controversy surrounding the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP)’s investment in Indonesian aquaculture start-up eFishery.
Vigneswaran said demands for Anwar to step down were inappropriate and stressed that the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” must be applied fairly in the matter.
“We do not welcome such statements and strongly condemn calls of this nature,” he told reporters in Seremban.
Earlier, PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden had argued that Anwar could not avoid political responsibility over the issue and called for KWAP chairman Johan Mahmood Merican to be suspended until investigations were completed.
Afnan said the matter involved not only investment decisions but also public trust and accountability, particularly concerning the management of retirement funds.
Vigneswaran defended Anwar by citing the appointment of UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister during the formation of the unity government, despite Zahid facing 47 criminal charges at the time.
He said Anwar had applied the same legal principle that a person should not be considered guilty before a court decision is made.
“When Zahid faced 47 charges in court, Anwar appointed him as Deputy Prime Minister. Based on the same principle, calls for Anwar to resign are unjustified,” he said.
On July 16, Anwar informed the Dewan Rakyat that KWAP had suffered losses of about RM200 million after being deceived through a coordinated fraud involving manipulated financial reports by eFishery.
In a written parliamentary reply to Subang MP Wong Chen, Anwar said the investment had undergone KWAP’s governance procedures, including internal assessments, independent due diligence, and reviews of the company’s financial, legal and operational status before approval.
KWAP, together with other investors, has since initiated legal action and efforts to recover the funds while strengthening its internal governance measures.
Anwar previously said reliance on audit firms alone should not be the only basis for investment decisions, noting that two international audit firms had approved the investment while another had not completed its verification process.
Last year, eFishery co-founder Gibran Huzaifah was sentenced to nine years in prison in Bandung, Indonesia, for breach of trust and money laundering offences.
Meanwhile, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim had also called for Anwar to step down over the issue.
— MINUTESMY
