Malaysia Affected by Gibran Scandal, Rp865 Billion Lost Instantly
The legal case surrounding the Indonesian fishery technology startup, eFishery, has had long-lasting consequences, resulting in massive losses for foreign investors. This scandal has even drawn the direct attention of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar openly stated that Malaysia’s pension fund, Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), was impacted by the alleged fraud involving eFisherly due to financial report manipulation carried out by the management. As a result, KWAP, along with a consortium of global investors, had to bear significant losses, with KWAP’s investment alone reaching nearly RM200 million, or approximately Rp865 billion.
“The (investment) decision went through an evaluation and governance process based on the information available at the time, including the verification of financial reports by internationally recognised certified auditors,” Anwar stated in a written response in the Malaysian Parliament, as reported on Sunday (13/9/2026).
Anwar added that before committing capital, the investor consortium, including KWAP, had conducted independent due diligence to ensure the validity of all information.
A series of global giants have also been disappointed. KWAP is not the only major financial institution caught in this vortex of problems. Several global investment funds and leading technology institutions, including Temasek, SoftBank, 42XFund, and Northstar, are recorded to have channelled significant capital into eFishery.
“However, the eFishery investment was a pre-planned fraud, and there was manipulation of financial reports by eFishery’s management,” Anwar asserted.
Notably, in 2023, eFishery secured Series D funding worth US$200 million. From that total fresh capital, KWAP contributed an investment portion of US$47.7 million, equivalent to approximately RM194.35 million.
This statement was made by Anwar in response to questions from Subang Member of Parliament, Wong Chen, regarding the accountability and oversight of the board of directors and senior management of KWAP concerning this massive investment.
Responding to this incident, Anwar ensured that the investor consortium has pursued legal channels to recover the invested funds. Furthermore, a thorough internal audit has been completed and submitted to the KWAP board.
“KWAP remains committed to managing civil servant pension funds transparently, ethically, and accountably. Improvements have been implemented to strengthen protection for future investments,” concluded Anwar.
Gibran Huzaifah has been sentenced to 9 years in prison. The financial engineering scandal that shattered the reputation of this unicorn startup finally ended in court. Last April, the Bandung District Court judges sentenced the former CEO of eFishery, Gibran Huzaifah, to 9 years in prison for the crimes of financial report manipulation and money laundering.
In addition to the prison sentence, Gibran was also ordered to pay a fine of Rp1 billion, with a subsidiary penalty of 190 days of imprisonment. Two of his associates, Angga Hadrian Raditya and Andri Yadi, were also implicated and sentenced for their involvement in the scandal.
The fraudulent practices within eFishery were initially uncovered thanks to whistleblower reports and independent investigation findings from FTI Consulting, which detected indications of revenue falsification reaching nearly US$600 million. An internal investigation report by the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri) alongside DealStreetAsia media in late 2024 subsequently confirmed the existence of systematic data inflation orchestrated by top management since early 2024.