An Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributor today claimed that she was duped into buying RM110,000 worth of annuity scheme shares, almost resulting in the loss of all her EPF savings.

The contributor, a doctor from Sungai Petani, Kedah who requested anonymity, said that she was approached by agents from Hong Leong Assurance in a shopping complex about the benefits of buying annuity scheme units.

"One of the agents asked me how much money I had with the EPF. I was not aware of the exact amount but I told them that I might have RM100,000. They asked for my identity card and filled a form with my particulars," said the doctor.

"They told me it was only a formality and the final form would be filled by an EPF officer. I agreed to put my thumb print and signed the form. No amount of money was mentioned and the number of annuity schemes shares was also not mentioned," she added.

However, having given some thought to the deal, she decided to call one of the agents the following day and told him that she wanted to cancel her application, to which the agent agreed.

"Sometime later the agent rang me up and informed me that he was coming to my house to deliver the policy personally. I was taken aback and told him that I had cancelled the purchase," said the doctor.

But the agent told her that her EPF money had already been transferred into a Hong Leong Assurance account.

"I am at a loss as to how such a large amount of money had been transferred. Until now I have not received any official intimation from EPF that the sum has been taken away from my account," she said.

According to the doctor, her name was also used by the insurance agents to canvass for other contributors.

Controversial scheme

The doctor is part of a list of 29 people who have complained to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) on incidents of abuse by annuity scheme agents.

They include mostly cases of EPF contributions being transferred by the agents without the contributors' knowledge.

The controversial annuity scheme is a retirement package where workers, upon agreement, would hand over their EPF contributions to be managed by private insurance firms.

The insurance firms would make monthly payments to the contributors when they reach retirement age at 55.

Due to strong union protests, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced in May that the scheme would be suspended until a comprehensive government study is completed.

Meanwhile, MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran said today that workers must be made aware of possible abuses by insurance companies.

"We have already sent a letter to the EPF on this issue. We believe that third parties such as these agents should not be involved because there is no way to enforce discipline on, say, 1,000 agents.

"The EPF should safeguard the interest of the nine million or so contributors and not the interest of the insurance agencies," he told reporters at the Metal Industries Employees Union headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

False information

Among the complaints included in the MTUC's letter to the EPF include agents committing fraud by increasing number of units bought, giving false information about the cost of each unit, withdrawal amounts fixed without members consent, and not informing contributors of a seven percent penalty should they decide to withdraw from such schemes.

The trade union leader said that the annuity scheme can be better managed by EPF, instead of farming it out to insurance companies.

"The EPF could set up a new and fourth account - as there are presently three - and place the amount of money the contributors want to put into this annuity scheme and have the EPF manage it. If there is a death, the family can then collect it on behalf of the deceased," he said.

According to Rajasekaran, there are already 250,000 people who have signed up with the scheme with another 130,000 are on the waiting list.