SHAH ALAM: The Auditor General published its findings of government agencies for the year 2022 and the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) has again hog the lime light, for the wrong reasons. The Edge is reporting that LTAT has consistently reported negative reserve balance since 2020. Apart from this the AG also found that the board had made dividend payment on non-cash profit to depositors in 2020.

The Edge reported:

As outlined in the AG’s Report, LTAT’s reserve stood at RM376 million in 2020, RM258 million in 2021, and RM338 million in 2022. The report highlighted 41 old stock portfolios with an unrealised loss of RM662 million as of Dec 31, 2022, contributing to the negative reserve balance.

The AG’s Report also disclosed that LTAT’s 2022 investment in 13 subsidiaries amounted to RM5.29 billion, including investments of RM2.55 billion in Boustead Holdings Bhd and RM106 million in Pharmaniaga Bhd.

However, the report revealed impairment of investments amounting to RM768 million in Boustead Holdings and RM44 million in Pharmaniaga. “LTAT did not provide impairment for investments in Boustead Holdings and Pharmaniaga, resulting in an overstatement of net profit and subsidiary investments by RM0.812 billion,” stated the AG’s Report.

Additionally, the report found that LTAT divested its holdings in Perumahan Kinrara Bhd and Tanah Sutera Development Sdn Bhd, selling them for a total of RM43 million to Perbadanan Perwira Harta Sdn Bhd (PPHSB). In return, LTAT received PPHSB shares valued at RM232 million. From this transaction, LTAT recorded a non-cash profit of RM189 million, forming the basis for dividend payment in 2022.

Based on the above findings, one wonders how much LTAT can pay its depositors this year which should be announced in the second of week of March. Last year, it paid a dividend of five percent with the total payout of RM476.45 million.

— Malaysian Defence