Federal territories minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said JPA had issued legal notices for borrowers who defaulted for more than six years, with their cases referred to the AGC for legal action if they still refused to pay.

After referring the 549 cases involving RM81.2 million in outstanding loan repayments to the AGC, only RM17.5 million had been repaid.

“Some RM63.7 million (in outstanding loan repayments) is still under legal action by the AGC,” she said while winding up the debate on the 2025 auditor-general’s report for her ministry.

The report said JPA contributed 76.1% of the prime minister’s department’s total RM463.21 million in accounts receivable in 2024 with RM352.5 million.

JPA scholarship repayments and related penalties amounted to RM341.5 million, or 96.9% of the department’s accounts receivable.

Zaliha said this RM341.5 million was a 2.2% reduction from RM349 million in 2023.

She said JPA has been working with the Internal Revenue Board and national registration department to obtain the latest details of defaulters, while strengthening its collection mechanism.

JPA also plans to establish a unit focused on speeding up collecting loan repayments and to blacklist the next of kin of defaulters from scholarships until the outstanding payments are settled.

Despite the issue with loan defaulters, Zaliha said, the government did not see JPA scholarships as a liability but a long-term social investment in the public.