The Malaysian Islamic Strategic Research Institute (Iksim) has accused the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) of conducting a "half-baked" internal audit.

This comes after a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa that RM7.4 million of Iksim’s total RM7.6 million budget is unaccounted for.

In a statement, Iksim questioned the validity of the internal audit by MAIWP - which is also one of its funders - as the body was not an accredited audit firm.

"In fact, their findings are 'half baked' as it did not go through an exit conference," said Iksim, in reference to a verification process involving all stakeholders.

Iksim said it has given its full cooperation to the internal audit team and is still waiting for the exit conference, which it claimed had been postponed three times by MAIWP.

It also reiterated that it has answered all the inquiries made during the audit process.

“Iksim urges all parties to adhere to proper work ethics and not bypass the procedure by making all sorts of allegations before the overall audit process has been completed,” said Iksim.

Mujahid, in Parliament yesterday, said that a MAIWP internal audit of Iksim has found that RM7.4 million out of the RM7.6 million funds it had been allocated, is unaccounted for.

On July 19, the government announced that Iksim’s funds have been frozen, while studying whether to retain or dissolve the body.

Mujahid added that MAIWP was one of the agencies funding Iksim.

Commenting further on the allegations, Iksim said it happened due to differences between the work procedures and accounting procedures adopted by MAIWP and Iksim.

“Every ringgit spent by Iksim has a detailed record which is accessible within a few minutes.

“The MAIWP audit team, however, views the differences as a mistake,” said Iksim, adding that it is also operated as a MAIWP subsidiary.

It further threatened to take legal actions against Mujahid or any other parties who repeat the claims.

Iksim was incorporated on Dec 9, 2014. It is a brainchild of former premier Najib Razak.

It was set up following an agreement by the National Islamic Affairs Council, Islamic Development Department (Jakim), MAIWP, state Islamic religious councils, with the consent of the Council of Malay Rulers.

The premise at that time was for Iksim to be an independent think tank to uphold the sovereignty of Malay rulers and Islam’s status as the religion of the federation.