Malaysia probes state pension’s loss linked to eFishery collapse

[SINGAPORE] Malaysia’s anti-graft agency has opened an investigation into losses tied to state pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan’s investment in failed Indonesian agritech startup eFishery.

A team was formed on Friday (Jul 17) to “study and examine the issue thoroughly”, said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s chief commissioner Abdul Halim Aman in a statement on Saturday.

“The investigation will be conducted fairly, transparently and impartially based on existing legal provisions,” he said. “The public is requested not to speculate on this investigation to avoid confusion and maintain the integrity of the investigation process.”

The probe is the latest development in the roughly US$300 million fraud that brought down one of South-east Asia’s most celebrated startups.

Indonesia sentenced eFishery founder Gibran Huzaifah to nine years in prison in April, about a year after he gave Bloomberg News a detailed account of how he falsified the company’s accounts at a startup once valued north of US$1 billion.

Kwap, as the pension fund is known, invested about RM163.4 million (US$40 million) in eFishery, it said in a statement on Saturday. That represented about 2.51 per cent of eFishery’s shareholding, it added.

“Kwap was a minority shareholder, while the majority of the company’s shares were held by other investors, including major global institutional investors that were similarly affected by the misconduct,” the pension fund said.

“Kwap is also continuing to pursue all available avenues to maximise the recovery of its investment.”

The collapse of eFishery dealt a blow to some of the world’s highest-profile investors, including SoftBank and Temasek.

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The company, which deployed feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, incurred several hundred million dollars in losses between 2018 and 2024. Things began unravelling after a board investigation revealed that it may have inflated its revenue and profit over several years.

The scandal triggered widespread scrutiny over regulatory oversight and due diligence standards in South-east Asia’s venture capital markets.

Kwap had more than RM195 billion of funds under management as at the end of 2025.

The pension fund said it “has further strengthened its approach to private markets investing”, citing measures including greater portfolio diversification and enhanced post-investment monitoring. BLOOMBERG