Minister: 1MDB still looking for ‘willing’ auditor to replace Deloitte

Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani has revealed that 1MDB has yet to find a new auditor to take over from Deloitte Malaysia, which resigned in July.

Thus, 1MDB is still unable to submit its financial statement ending March 31, 2015 despite being given two six-month extensions until March 2016 from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) to submit the report.

“I have told 1MDB board that they have to look into their accounts quickly,” Johari told Malaysiakini.

“In fact, the board has been looking into appointing a new auditor since the resignation of Deloitte. But the problem is that they have not been able to appoint the new auditor,” he said.

“I think they want to look for an auditor that is willing to accept the job,” he explained when asked the reason of 1MDB’s inability to secure a new auditor.

“There are a lot of things (that need to be done). I am sure the board and also the management need to convince the auditor so that they are willing to accept the job,” he elaborated.

Deloitte was appointed to replace KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms, who signed off 1MDB’s accounts in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“All companies under the Finance Ministry must be able to audit (their own accounts). If not, they must tell us why. In this case, they have already told us they can’t even to get an auditor to replace Deloitte,” said Johari, who is also an Umno supreme council member.

Malaysiakini has attempted to contact 1MDB chairperson Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and president Arul Kanda Kandasamy for further comment.

Early this month, Arul Kanda said Deloitte resigned because it was unable to complete the audit of the state investment fund’s 2015 accounts.

The state-owned fund cited the same reason as before, that it was waiting for the return of its documents, which were seized during a raid last year. -Mkini