KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 9): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will initiate investigations on debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) once the Auditor-General's Department has completed its audit on the company, said Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed today.
He said the anti-graft body will have to wait for the due process to be completed before it can move on with its investigations.
This, he added, provided that the Auditor-General's Department and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that there is a case for them to pursue.
"The auditors will go in first, conduct checks, and then present the findings to the PAC. If there is a case, they will bring it to the relevant authorities," Abu Kassim said today, after launching the Integrity Pledge signing ceremony at Puspakom Shah Alam.
When asked for latest developments in the investigations on 1MDB, he declined to comment.
"I'm not advised to say anything. Let the process finish first," he said.
1MDB has been dogged by controversy over its debt portfolio, which has reached a staggering RM42 billion, as well as financial mismanagement.
Last week, whistleblower site Sarawak Report's exposés prompted opposition politicians, former Umno leaders and anti-graft bodies to demand a thorough investigation into 1MDB, and piled pressure on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the finance minister and chairs the 1MDB advisory board.
Last Wednesday, he ordered the country's auditor-general to "independently verify 1MDB's accounts", with the findings to be passed to a bipartisan parliamentary public accounts committee.
"If any wrongdoing is proven, the law will be enforced without exception," Najib said in a statement released by his office.
Yesterday, Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, said Najib has assured that no one would be protected if any misconduct was detected in the running of 1MDB.
He said this during a closed-door meeting with some 160 Umno division chiefs at Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.