KWAP eFishery Investment Sparks Governance Review and Fund Recovery Efforts

The KWAP eFishery investment has prompted Malaysia's Retirement Fund Inc to pursue legal action and seek recovery of invested capital after the Finance Ministry described the Indonesian aquaculture company's collapse as the result of a "well-planned fraud".

In a parliamentary reply, the ministry said KWAP and other investors had begun legal proceedings while reviewing governance, monitoring and investment oversight procedures.

Officials stressed that the pension fund had followed established due diligence processes based on audited financial statements together with independent financial, legal and operational assessments available at the time.

KWAP reportedly invested USD47.7m in eFishery's USD200m Series D fundraising round during 2023.

A subsequent board-commissioned investigation concluded that management may have overstated revenue by almost USD600m while reporting a USD16m profit for the first nine months of 2024 despite actually recording a USD35.4m loss.

The case highlights growing scrutiny of governance standards and financial verification within private-market investments.