PETALING JAYA: 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy said his company had never remitted any sum into the private accounts of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
In the Bicara Negara forum held in Ipoh today, Arul said this was based on 1MDB’s own records and the investigations conducted by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
“I confirm that 1MDB, according to our records and PAC investigators, never paid a sen to the private accounts of the prime minister,” he was quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying.
Arul said this during a question-and- answer forum on claims of the PM receiving RM2.6 billion related to 1MDB into his private account.
Star Online quoted Arul as saying 1MDB remained a target for the opposition because it had run out of things to criticise the government for.
He praised the government for improving the economy and creating jobs.
“The 1MDB issue is old but irresponsible people continue to play it up,” he added.
Arul said Najib continued to be linked with 1MDB because of his former position as the chairman of its advisory board.
“His only power was to advise. And because he is on the board, the opposition said he is responsible,” he said, adding that Najib did not have any executive power.
Arul said the people should not speculate on the US Department of Justice (DoJ) civil suit against 1MDB, which was filed in 2016.
“There have been no proceedings, defence or decisions yet.
“They have also recently requested the courts to postpone the case for another six months,” he said.
Najib has denied any wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB and in 2016, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said the US$681 million in his account was a gift from Saudi Arabian royalty.
Last week, 1MDB said it could not claim the 104 million Swiss francs (RM430 million) that Swiss lawmakers were deliberating returning to the rightful owners simply because the money did not belong to it or even the government of Malaysia.
“1MDB has previously stated and reiterates that it has not lost any money and that all its monies are fully accounted for,” it said in a statement today.
It added that the RM430 million was from fines imposed on banks by the Swiss financial regulatory authority and that it belonged to these banks.
Switzerland’s Parliament later rejected the bid to amend the law handling ill-gotten bank profits seized by authorities that had aimed to return the money linked to 1MDB to the Malaysian people.
On Feb 28, Indonesian police seized a luxury yacht, Equanimity, in Bali at the request of US authorities, probing alleged money laundering at the Malaysian state fund.
The yacht was impounded in Bali amid the multi-billion dollar corruption investigation launched by the DOJ and tied to 1MDB.
Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari said the government would act against foreign media that published “fake news” about 1MDB.
Jailani said the ministry had identified news organisations that are “trying to revive” the 1MDB issue following the seizure of the yacht in Bali.
Jailani said among those portals are The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), The New York Times, The Economist, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and MSNBC. -FMT
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