Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) today denied it took out depositors’ money to pay for their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans, as rumoured in the social media.

In a media statement today, TH said the information that went viral since yesterday was incorrect and slanderous in nature.

“TH has no such joint venture with PTPTN on loan repayment. Whatever money taken out is under the directive and agreement of depositors themselves,” said TH.

At the same time, an individual today came forward and apologised to TH via a letter and the social media.

In the letter dated today, the individual named Ahmad Rodzi Che Hat sent a letter of apology to TH over his WhatsApp message.

The message was a conversation between himself and a close relative whereby the relative had claimed that her funds in TH had gone ‘missing’, and upon checks, was told that the money, as much as RM30,000, went to repay her PTPTN loan.

In his letter of apology, Ahmad Rodzi wrote: “This matter refers to the conversation between myself and my daughter in-law on WhatsApp which transpired on 11.04.2016 that had gone viral where some irresponsible parties had made speculations that tarnished Tabung Haji’s name.

“With this, I once again apologise to Lembaga Tabung Haji Malaysia for my mistake. Any inconvenience is regretted.”

Meanwhile, TH called for members of the public to first check and clarify whatever information they receive before spreading it.

“Dissemination of inaccurate information such as this would give a negative impact on TH and confuse the depositors,” TH added.