KUALA LUMPUR – Investment into Indonesian aquaculture start-up eFishery was a “deliberate fraud” involving manipulated financial reports, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed, revealing that the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP) had been deceived.
Anwar, who also serves as Finance Minister, said the decision to invest was made through a proper evaluation and governance process, based on audited financial statements verified by certified international auditors.
He added that the investor consortium — including KWAP — had also conducted independent due diligence to ensure all information was complete and credible.
“The investment in eFishery also involved several leading institutional investors and international technology funds, including Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund and Northstar.
These investors too had their own internationally recognised evaluation, control and governance processes,” Anwar said in a written reply published on Parliament’s website today.
The response was to Wong Chen (PH–Subang), who had asked what accountability measures would be taken against KWAP’s Board, Investment Panel and top management over the approval and monitoring of the eFishery deal — which resulted in heavy losses for civil service retirement funds.
Anwar said firm action had already been taken, including legal proceedings, fund recovery efforts, internal governance reviews and strengthened controls by the consortium of investors.
KWAP, he noted, had carried out a comprehensive review of its evaluation, approval and monitoring processes, with findings tabled to its Board for detailed scrutiny.
“Following those discussions, follow-up actions have been taken in line with governance frameworks and institutional accountability principles.
KWAP remains committed to managing civil service retirement funds with transparency, integrity and accountability. Improvement measures have already been implemented to strengthen protection for future investments,” he said.
KWAP had invested US$47.7 million (around RM200 million) in eFishery in July 2023. The start-up was pitched as a tech-driven aquaculture firm promising to modernise fish and shrimp farming.
But in 2025, eFishery co-founder Gibran Huzaifah was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Bandung court after being convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering. – July 16, 2026