KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): UK-based Parker Randall International, which replaced Deloitte Malaysia as auditor of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) in January this year, has yet to decide whether to re-audit the troubled strategic development company's accounts for the financial years ended March 31, 2013 and 2014 (FY13 and FY14) that have been disavowed by Deloitte Malaysia, said the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

"Any decision on whether to re-audit 1MDB's audited financial statements again will be made after further discussions with the new auditor," MoF said in a written reply to a parliamentary question dated March 7 by Petaling Jaya Utara member of Parliament Tony Pua Kiam Wee.

MoF also said 1MDB has obtained extension from the Companies Commission of Malaysia until the end of this month to call for an annual general meeting to approve its financial statements for FY15 and FY16.

In July last year, 1MDB announced that Deloitte was resigning and the company was seeking a replacement, without giving a reason for the departure. It also said then that its audited financial statements for FY13 and FY14 shouldn't be relied on after US prosecutors said more than US$3.5 billion was misappropriated from the fund during a period that included those years.

Deloitte echoed that view, saying in a separate statement that if the information in the US complaint had been known during the FY13 and FY14 audits, it would have impacted the financial statements and audit reports Deloitte signed off on for those years.

Deloitte was 1MDB's third auditor after Ernst & Young, whose contract was terminated before the auditor could complete the audit on 1MDB's accounts for FY10, and KPMG — which handled 1MDB's statements for FY10, FY11 and FY12, but was terminated in December 2013.

The professional services firm was earlier drawn into a dispute over a US$1.4 billion mismatch in dealings between 1MDB and an Abu Dhabi investment fund, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).

IPIC in 2015 said it had never received the US$1.4 billion that 1MDB said had been paid out.

1MDB said in September 2015 that Deloitte Malaysia had made "specific and detailed enquiries" about these payments to IPIC before signing off on the fund's accounts and thus, it stood by its audited financial accounts. However, after Deloitte Malaysia's resignation, 1MDB said that its FY13 and FY14 audited financial statements should no longer be relied on.