Shah Alam, 30 June 2014 – In discharging its duties as a good corporate citizen, the UMW Group paid a corporate zakat of RM14,786,905 to Lembaga Zakat Selangor, a body under Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (MAIS). The payment was for the assessment year 2013. A cheque for the amount was presented to Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the Sultan of Selangor by UMW Group Chairman, Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin at Masjid Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam.UMW, with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) as the majority shareholder, is considered a Bumiputra company where the majority of its employees are Muslims, thus the obligation for the company to pay zakat. The payment of zakat is practiced by a number of companies under the PNB Group as well as other Government-linked Companies (GLCs).

The guidelines of Lembaga Zakat Selangor allow a payee company to utilise a maximum of 3/8 or 37.5% of its zakat for distribution to the underprivileged in accordance to the shariah. UMW will use some of the funds for its CSR activities.

The obligation to pay zakat is based on the clear and undisputed order in the Quran, Hadith and the consensus of shariah scholars. The word zakat itself means purification and growth.