Today the Finance Ministry clarifies the prime minister's recent reply on 1MDB in Dewan Rakyat. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, May 24, 2015.
The Finance Ministry today clarified that the written reply by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the Dewan Rakyat about 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was prepared by ministry officials.
In a statement today, it said the documents on the financial status of 1MDB at BSI Bank in Singapore were written and checked by Finance Ministry officials based on information from the company.
The Finance Ministry had amended the original reply on March 10 so as not to create confusion about the financial status of 1MDB in Singapore BSI, in line with requirements of Parliament.
"The decision by the Finance Ministry to amend the original answer is proof that it had no intentions of lying about the matter."
In connection to this, the statement said the accusation by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Najib had lied, was irrelevant.
Najib is also the finance minister.
"It is common for a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat to be made in his name based on information received from the relevant agency, and checked and distributed by the officials.
"The Finance Ministry has already taken appropriate action so that the matter does not repeat."
Earlier, The Malaysian Insider reported that in a parliamentary reply to Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara), Najib had said the balance of the investment redeemed by 1MDB were assets in US dollars.
Najib had, last March, in a parliamentary reply to Pua said that the redeemed money was in cash form.
He had said BSI bank had denied issuing documents supplied by 1MDB relating to the accounts for 1MDB subsidiary Brazen Sky Limited.
This, Dr Mahathir had said, clearly showed that Najib's March parliamentary reply was untrue.
He had said that Bank Negara Malaysia would have been informed by Singapore's monetary authorities that the funds were not in cash.
In that reply, Najib had confirmed US$1.103 billion had been “redeemed” from Brazen Sky’s alleged offshore fund in the Cayman Islands and was now being “kept in US currency” at BSI Bank Limited in Singapore.
Criticism has been mounting over the Finance Ministry's wholly-owned investment vehicle, established in 2009, which has chalked up debts of up to RM42 billion, backed by Putrajaya.
The Auditor-General is currently looking through 1MDB's books, with a preliminary report expected to be submitted to the Parliament in June, while the Public Accounts Committee started its investigation into the company last Tuesday. – Bernama
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