Bung Moktar: Probe if 1MDB had billions siphoned off

BN Backbenchers Club deputy chairperson Bung Moktar Radin wants the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to determine if billions of ringgit had been siphoned from 1MDB to make payments to a company called Aabar BVI.

This follows a statement issued by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary to the London Stock Exchange, stating that Aabar BVI was not an entity within either corporate group.

However, 1MDB has said it was a surprising claim that “neither IPIC nor Aabar have knowledge of, nor have benefited from, payments made by 1MDB to Aabar BVI”, as its records show Aabar BVI is jointly owned by IPIC and Aabar.

Bung Moktar said yesterday that PAC should be the correct platform to resolve the matter and 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy should furnish details.

"My response is very clear. I want this to be resolved through proper channels. Arul Kanda should answer first, as he knows if money had been siphoned off. If there is a basis to this allegation, then (we should) table the matter to PAC again," he told Malaysiakini.

PAC can investigate the new allegation related to 1MDB despite having concluded its painstaking 11-month investigation and having submitted its report to Parliament last on April 7, Bung Moktar said.

Will raise issue at next sitting

"I will bring up the issue in the next Parliament session (which commences on May 16)," he said, adding that he too wanted to know the answers.

He also acknowledged the need to deal with the matter before it became another heated topic.

1MDB had paid US$3.51 billion to the British Virgin Islands incorporated Aabar Investment PJS (Aabar BVI) in the form of collaterals, options termination compensation and further unexplained "top-up security" payments despite doubts over who owned Aabar BVI, which carried the same name as the IPIC subsidiary.

This was part of a 2012 deal in which IPIC guaranteed US$3.5 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB, in exchange for a 49 percent stake in 1MDB’s power assets and a collateral payment.

The opposition then questioned if billions of ringgit in 1MDB funds had been siphoned from the firm.

Meanwhile, PAC deputy chairperson Dr Tan Seng Giaw believes the matter would be brought up at the next meeting of the committee.

The information related to Aabar BVI and 1MDB's overseas cash flow and assets were not made available to PAC during its entire investigation into 1MDB, Tan said. -Mkini