KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): Datuk Merina Abu Tahir has stepped down as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) after holding the position for some 22 months.

It is understood that TH has appointed its executive director for operations, Mustakim Mohamad, as interim CFO. The pilgrim fund has also identified a successor to take over from Mustakim as operations director, according to sources.

A spokesperson of TH has confirmed Merina’s resignation, which came at the end of her two-year contract with the pilgrim fund.

Merina, a former Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) council member and former chairman of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Advisory Committee of Malaysia, was appointed as CFO in TH in February 2020. The post was at the time vacant for over one year.

In December 2018, then-CFO Datuk Rozaida Omar was among several key senior members of TH implicated in a police report after RM22 million belonging to Yayasan Tabung Haji was found to have been disbursed for activities with political inclinations.

This would be the third senior role change in TH this year. In October, Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof resigned as TH chairman, after holding the post since July 2018. The fund has yet to appoint a new chairman.

Earlier in May, TH appointed Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin as its new group managing director and CEO, taking over from Datuk Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, who was himself appointed in September 2019.

TH, which manages around RM70 billion of savings of some nine million depositors seeking to perform the hajj, is close to halfway through its three-year (2021-2023) investment plan.

The plan was established after a restructuring in the fund, which was done to address issues in its balance sheet that stemmed from mismanagement of the fund’s assets by the previous management which was unearthed in 2018.