Where’s the interim report on 1MDB, DAP asks Auditor-General

State investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Berhad has racked up RM42 billion in debts in just six years since its inception. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 1, 2015.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today asked the Auditor General (A-G) where was the interim report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) which was supposed to have been completed by end June.

In a statement, Lim said that the report was "still being awaited" despite it being July, adding that Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang said the report should be ready by end of June.

He also criticised the decision not to make the interim report public and instead only to make it available to members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), who are conducting their own investigation into 1MDB.

Lim said this "destroys the original rationale" of asking the A-G to vet the debt-ridden state investment fund's accounts.

"Although this is only the A-G’s interim report on the 1MDB, and that there will be a final report, there is no good enough reason why the interim report should be withheld from the public or MPs who are not on the PAC," Lim said.

"If Najib is not prepared to ensure that the Auditor-General’s interim report on 1MDB is immediately made available to the public, he can junk all the slogans about ‘Nothing2Hide’," he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak instructed the A-G to audit 1MDB after controversies over its dealings, which led it to rack up RM42 billion in debts in just six years since its inception.

Najib is also chairman of the 1MDB advisory board.

- TMI