WHY has 1MDB not submitted its accounts since 2014, Pua asked today, following the state investor’s disavowal of funds confiscated by the Swiss authorities.

1Malaysia Development Bhd said it has not lost any money and that its funds are fully accounted for, a claim which the Petaling Jaya Utara MP dismissed as lacking in credibility.

“If 1MDB money is fully accounted for, why hasn’t 1MDB made any full disclosure of its accounts since 2014? 

“In fact, 1MDB has not produced any legitimately audited account since March 2012 after Deloitte Malaysia withdrew its endorsement of 1MDB’s March 2013 and 2014 financial statements,” he said in a statement.

The state investor said yesterday that the CHF104 million (RM430 million) held by the Swiss federal treasury does not belong to 1MDB and is a fine imposed on banks which allegedly breached Swiss laws.

Responding to news and press statements by opposition leaders about the Swiss Parliament’s plans to debate and vote on a motion to repatriate the “stolen” funds to Malaysia, 1MDB said the amount in question cannot be claimed by the firm nor by the Malaysian government, as the money does not belong to 1MDB. 

Pua said despite numerous requests by the auditor-general (AG) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), 1MDB has refused to submit its updated financial statements and even hand over any bank statement of its accounts with foreign banks.  

“It does not take a genius to figure out that 1MDB has more than something to hide.

“This is the very reason the PAC could never have exonerated prime minister (Najib Razak) of stealing from 1MDB because the AG and the PAC were never given the necessary documents to verify that such illicit transfer of funds never took place.

“Even when I had asked for a simple listing of the debts still being held by 1MDB, as well as the debts assumed by the Ministry of Finance, it gets rejected by the parliamentary speaker.”

Pua said the reason the board and the top management of 1MDB are evasive is obvious and understandable, as they are an integral part of the plot by top leaders to steal tens of billions of ringgit from Malaysian taxpayers.  

“The mother of all scandals has already precipitated the single largest anti-kleptocracy legal suit by the United States Department of Justice.

“Given that the board and top management of 1MDB are part of the part of the kleptocracy scam, how do they expect Malaysians to believe their denial of the ownership of more than RM400 million confiscated by the Swiss authorities?”

The denial also holds no water as 1MDB has also lied to about the nature of its joint venture with Petrosaudi International Limited, which masked the transfer of US$1.03 billion to the accounts of Good Star Limited in Switzerland, Pua said.

“1MDB repeatedly testified that Good Star was a subsidiary of Petrosaudi, before Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) subsequently confirmed that Good Star’s sole shareholder was the fugitive Low Taek Jho.” – March 15, 2018.