Malaysia’s civil service pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) is looking to recover 194.5 million ringgit (US$47.7 million) invested in Indonesian agritech startup eFishery, which is in the process of being liquidated after an internal audit uncovered what turned out to be one of the largest startup frauds in Southeast Asia.
KWAP was among the investors that participated in eFishery’s Series D fundraising in 2023. The actual sum invested by Malaysia’s second largest pension fund had not been publicly known until Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim disclosed the figure in parliament last week.
Responding to a question from a lawmaker on July 16, Anwar said that “the consortium of investors, including KWAP, has initiated legal action and efforts to recover the funds”.
He said the group includes Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings, Japan’s Softbank Group, Abu Dhabi venture capital firm 42XFund, and Singapore private equity and venture capital Northstar Group.
According to Anwar, KWAP had conducted independent due diligence before investing, but there was “premeditated fraud” by the Indonesian startup “and there was manipulation of financial reports by the management of eFishery”.
He said the pension fund has since conducted a comprehensive review of the evaluation, approval and oversight processes of its investment and taken follow-up actions “in accordance with the institutional governance framework and principles of accountability”.
“KWAP remains committed to managing the retirement funds of civil servants in a transparent, ethical and accountable manner,” he said.
Founded in 2013, eFishery started off as a fish feeder solutions provider and later became an aquaculture platform, providing financing for fish farmers, feed procurement, and online marketplace services.
The fraud was discovered when FTI Consulting conducted an internal audit of the startup in December 2024. It found, among other things, that eFishery maintained two sets of accounts, one for management and the other for investors, auditors and lenders; overstated revenue by roughly $600 million; and fabricated profits when it was making losses.
Gibran Huzaifah, the founder of eFishery, was sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering in April this year.
KWAP had 185.6 billion ringgit of assets under management as of end-2024, the latest publicly available figure.
