1MDB: We spent RM690m on worthy causes and they're not stolen funds

1MDB today said it had spent around RM690 million through its foundation for worthy causes and none of the money were from stolen sources.

This included its Special Haj Programme, which former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had repeatedly claimed was funded through stolen money.

"Mahathir wrongly claims that the Yayasan 1MDB Haj sponsorship was funded through 'stolen' money.

"1MDB strongly denies this baseless and unsubstantiated allegation. On the contrary, 1MDB has legitimate business operations, formerly in energy production and more recently, in real estate development.

"Funds generated from these business operations are contributed to Yayasan 1MDB, which then uses such funds to sponsor the Special Haj Programme," it said in a statement.

It urged Mahathir to "stop the lies".

1MDB said the RM690 million its foundation had put into "worthy causes" was since 2010 which had benefited 2.8 million Malaysians through 60 projects in education, healthcare, youth development and community services.

"Examples of such activities can be found on the 1MDB website, ranging from Dana PIBG grants and academic grants to SPM and STPM students to academic grants for Sri Murugan Centre and Unified Examination Certificate holders, as well as Dana Belia 1Malaysia and 1Malaysia Mobile Clinics.

"Apart from Special Haj Programme, Yayasan 1MDB also supports other programs such as the Public Service Department SPM programme, which is currently sponsoring over 600 Malaysian scholars across all races," it said.

1MDB is in the process of being wound up after becoming embroiled in an international money laundering scandal and is the subject of investigation in several countries including US, Switzerland, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

At its peak, the government fund had a debt of around RM50 billion. This had since been pared down through the sale of its assets.- Mkini