KUALA LUMPUR July 21, 2026 — Senior Political Advisor to Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Utama Tengku Zafrul Aziz, has dismissed allegations that Malaysia’s public sector pension fund, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) or KWAP, is being “looted” or mismanaged.
In a video statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Tengku Zafrul clarified the fund’s purpose and performance:
“KWAP kena jarah? Duit itu digunakan untuk bantu bayar pencen, mengikut fungsinya di bawah undang-undang — dan dana KWAP masih berkembang kepada lebih RM195 bilion. Jadi ini bukan penjarahan; sama ada mereka tak faham fungsi KWAP, atau sengaja nak takutkan rakyat.”
(Translation: “Is KWAP being looted? The money is used to help pay pensions, in accordance with its function under the law — and the KWAP fund is still growing to more than RM195 billion. So this is not looting; either they don’t understand the function of KWAP, or they deliberately want to scare the people.”)
The remarks come amid public discussion over KWAP’s investment in Indonesian agritech company eFishery, which resulted in losses due to fraud. Tengku Zafrul previously addressed the issue, noting that the actual loss stood at approximately RM163 million (not RM200 million as some reports suggested) and that the fraud also affected other prominent investors, including Temasek and SoftBank. He stressed that every sen would be pursued for recovery and that civil servants’ pensions would not be affected.
KWAP’s total fund size reached RM195 billion in 2025, supported by strong investment returns, including RM18 billion in investment income generated in 2024.
The eFishery case involved allegations of revenue inflation by the company’s founder, Gibran Huzaifah, who was later sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement and related offences. The scandal impacted multiple international investors and highlighted risks in private market investments.
KWAP has since stated it has strengthened its private market investment framework and is actively pursuing avenues to recover the funds. Officials have repeatedly assured the public that pension payments to civil servants remain secure and unaffected by the isolated investment setback.
Tengku Zafrul, who also serves as Chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), framed the criticism as either a misunderstanding of KWAP’s legal mandate or an attempt to create unnecessary public alarm.
The fund plays a critical role in Malaysia’s retirement system for public sector employees, with the government covering the majority of pension obligations while KWAP manages and grows the corpus through investments.
Tengku Zafrul’s statement aims to reassure Malaysians that the fund continues to fulfil its core objective of supporting pensioners while maintaining steady growth.
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