Wawasan calls for parliamentary review of KWAP’s RM200 million eFishery investment loss
PETALING JAYA: Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) has urged the federal government to present a comprehensive report to Parliament on the RM200 million investment loss incurred by the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) through its investment in Indonesian aquaculture technology startup eFishery, saying the issue raises important questions about governance, transparency and oversight of public retirement funds.
The party said the report should be tabled during the October parliamentary sitting, allowing lawmakers to scrutinise how the investment was approved, how risks were assessed and what corrective measures have been introduced to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Wawasan vice-president Datuk Omar Mustapha said the losses involve funds entrusted to safeguard the retirement savings of Malaysian civil servants, making accountability and public disclosure essential.
He stressed that institutions responsible for managing retirement assets are expected to maintain the highest standards of due diligence, risk management and corporate governance before committing public funds to investment opportunities.
According to Omar, if all governance procedures—including internal evaluations, independent due diligence, third-party verification and audit processes—had been properly carried out before the investment, the key question is why warning signs were not identified earlier.
He said Parliament should be provided with a full account of the investment process, including the approval framework, risk assessment methodology, findings from internal reviews, the status of asset recovery efforts and reforms implemented following the incident.
“The issue extends beyond the financial value of the investment. It concerns public confidence in the institutions entrusted with managing the retirement savings of civil servants,” he said in a statement.
Omar added that while fraudulent conduct may explain how financial losses occurred, it does not remove the responsibility of ensuring governance systems are sufficiently robust to detect irregularities before significant public funds are exposed.
He noted that the US$47.7 million (approximately RM200 million) investment was approved in July 2023, when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was also serving as Finance Minister.
While clarifying that Wawasan is not alleging the Prime Minister was responsible for the alleged fraud committed by eFishery’s management, Omar said ministerial accountability includes ensuring agencies under the Finance Ministry maintain effective governance, oversight and risk-control mechanisms.
He argued that the public deserves a more detailed explanation than assurances that existing procedures were followed, particularly given the scale of the financial losses.
Among the issues Wawasan believes should be addressed are who proposed and authorised the investment, the basis upon which investment risks were evaluated, when warning indicators first emerged and how much of the invested capital can still be recovered.
The party also called for greater transparency regarding weaknesses identified during subsequent reviews and the institutional reforms introduced to strengthen investment governance moving forward.
“Public accountability should not end with confirmation that an internal review has taken place. Malaysians deserve to know what shortcomings were uncovered and what improvements have been implemented to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents recurring,” Omar said.
The call follows remarks by Anwar on Thursday, in which he disclosed that KWAP had been misled through what he described as a coordinated fraud involving manipulation of financial statements, resulting in the fund investing approximately RM200 million in eFishery.
The Prime Minister said the investment decision was made through established governance and evaluation procedures based on information available at the time, including audited financial statements verified by internationally recognised audit firms.
He added that the investor consortium, which included KWAP, had also undertaken independent due diligence before proceeding with the investment. Other institutional investors reportedly involved in eFishery included Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund and NorthStar.
The episode has renewed discussion over governance standards for public investment institutions, with increasing calls for stronger oversight, greater transparency and more rigorous safeguards to protect public funds from sophisticated financial fraud.
