Thursday, January 04, 2007
EPF's competence in question
The Star today reported that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the guardian of our hard-earned pension fund, almost paid RM15mil for a wound-up company worth less than RM700,000. But the EPF still paid a 10 percent down payment of 10 percent or a whopping RM1.5 million, which according to the report, is refundable. Consider that 10 percent a write-off, because the conmen who succeeded in making the EPF fools, would have already spirited the money away in an offshore bank account.
Apparently it just took a smooth talking criminal a few hours to convince our so-called investment experts in the EPF to commit RM15 million into a local company which this man claimed had sealed a deal with an American firm with dealings with fast food chains. The report further said that the EPF personnel immediately signed agreements to give this man RM1.5 million after just viewing some graphs and listening to this conman. No background checks, no indepth studies carried out by EPF prior to making any investment decisions.
It is obvious that EPF has lost that RM1.5 million. In an ordinary investment house, such mistakes would mean the chop for the guilty party but that's not going to happen to these bumbling fools in the EPF. It will be business as usual, with mistakes like this pushed under the carpet, and conveniently forgotten. And to make matters trickier for the EPF, they did not find out about the scam; it was honest directors of that company put up by sale by the conman, who alerted the sleeping monkeys "guarding" our pension fund.
Malaysians have a right to know what the EPF will do to restore confidence in itself. As it is, EPF's dividend returns are paltry, barely 4 percent a year while pension funds in Singapore gives back many times that. EPF has made some questionable investments and it is clear that Malaysians are paying for their follies. This latest fiasco is just another shameful notch on its roster of mistakes, costing the taxpayer dearly. ¶ 9:23 AM
Apparently it just took a smooth talking criminal a few hours to convince our so-called investment experts in the EPF to commit RM15 million into a local company which this man claimed had sealed a deal with an American firm with dealings with fast food chains. The report further said that the EPF personnel immediately signed agreements to give this man RM1.5 million after just viewing some graphs and listening to this conman. No background checks, no indepth studies carried out by EPF prior to making any investment decisions.
It is obvious that EPF has lost that RM1.5 million. In an ordinary investment house, such mistakes would mean the chop for the guilty party but that's not going to happen to these bumbling fools in the EPF. It will be business as usual, with mistakes like this pushed under the carpet, and conveniently forgotten. And to make matters trickier for the EPF, they did not find out about the scam; it was honest directors of that company put up by sale by the conman, who alerted the sleeping monkeys "guarding" our pension fund.
Malaysians have a right to know what the EPF will do to restore confidence in itself. As it is, EPF's dividend returns are paltry, barely 4 percent a year while pension funds in Singapore gives back many times that. EPF has made some questionable investments and it is clear that Malaysians are paying for their follies. This latest fiasco is just another shameful notch on its roster of mistakes, costing the taxpayer dearly. ¶ 9:23 AM
