MOF: 1MDB's losses still cannot be determined

 

PARLIAMENT | The extent of 1MDB's losses still cannot be determined, more than five years after a new auditor, Parker Randall, was appointed.

According to a written reply by the Finance Ministry, the delay was because the old auditors KPMG (for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012) and Deloitte (years 2013 and 2014) had withdrawn their respective reports.

"Therefore, the total losses for 1MDB as of now cannot be determined," the ministry said in a reply yesterday to Wong Kah Woh (Pakatan Harapan-Ipoh Timur).

Parker Randall was appointed as an auditor on Jan 5, 2017. The firm was the fourth to examine 1MDB's books since 2009.

Both Deloitte and KPMG agreed to an RM336 million settlement respectively over their failures in fiduciary duties when auditing 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Wong had sought from the Finance Ministry the amount of 1MDB assets which has been recovered and the total losses for the company.

According to the Finance Ministry, RM19.14 billion has been recovered so far and placed in the asset recovery trust account.

Apart from the settlements with KPMG and Deloitte, the funds were recovered from the US Department of Justice (RM5.17 billion), Goldman Sachs (US$2.5 billion or RM10.5 billion) and AmBank (RM2.315 billion).

Goldman Sachs had in 2020 agreed to a US$3.9 billion settlement, of which US$2.5 billion was in cash and US$1.4 billion was in assets.

The status of the recovery of the US$1.4 billion in assets is currently unknown.

Yesterday, the Dewan Rakyat was told that 1MDB's debts stood at RM38.5 billion, of which RM6.5 billion was in interest cost alone.

US and Malaysian investigators have claimed that most of the funds raised by 1MDB since 2009 were plundered and squandered.

1MDB is the brainchild of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. He has been convicted of money laundering in relation to SRC International - a former 1MDB subsidiary - and is currently being tried for money laundering involving 1MDB. - Mkini