Religious agencies including the Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM) will now be subject to guidelines aimed at improving their administration and operations.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Senator Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the guidelines which will be issued soon, will be implemented after a special team set up by the government completes its report.

"This is to ensure that not only do the operations follow the set rules, but are based on high morals and integrity.

"This is because the emphasis is not only on administrative practices which follow the rules but what is most important are moral values.

"That is why there are the words 'legally and morally right', that is what we are emphasising on and will be assessed by the special team," he told Bernama at the Parliament lobby on Tuesday.

Asyraf was replying to a question from Senator Mariany Mohammad Yit at the Dewan Negara sitting who asked what the real issue was concerning the management and integrity of YaPEIM and what steps were being taken by the government to resolve it.

Since November this year, YaPEIM has come under public scrutiny on social media for alleged misuse of funds and excessive remuneration for its senior management staff as well as the issue of a working visit to the United States last year.

Asyraf said the special team, which he was heading, also included representatives from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) in the Prime Minister's Department, established legal firms, Government-Linked Companies and Malaysian banking institutions.

Asyraf also advised the public not to be easily influenced by accusations spread by certain parties about the foundation.

"Let us not get carried away by the accusations hurled at the agency, claiming that YaPEIM had used charity money (through the Salary Cut Scheme) to pay for the management's allowances.

"The public must understand that YaPEIM is not just a charity body but an institution which conducts a business.

"YaPEIM gets its funds from two sources, the charity donations and its business funds, and the allowance of the management is not from the charity donations," he said.