KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy yesterday denied a report that he had provided a false bank statement to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to imply that the state-owned strategic development company had cash in BSI Bank Ltd in Singapore.

On April 22, 2015, whistle-blower website Sarawak Report had published a blog post claiming Arul had submitted a false bank statement concerning 1MDB’s investments through its Brazen Sky Ltd account at BSI in Singapore.

It stated that BSI had subsequently informed the Singapore regulatory authorities that the document was a false statement and did not originate from the bank itself. On Tuesday, BNM confirmed that it had received a report from the Monetary Authority of Singapore on a complaint by BSI on an account linked to 1MDB.

In a statement yesterday, Arul said the post by Sarawak Report was “blatantly false and incorrect”.

“We note with dismay that Sarawak Report continues to carry false information and direct unfounded allegations at 1MDB. In a recent post, the blog stated that “Arul Kandasamy had provided a false bank statement to BNM to imply that [1MDB] had [cash in a BSI account in Singapore]”.

“This is a lie. I have never provided any such a statement to BNM. To state otherwise is blatantly false and incorrect, as are any allegations that are based on this premise,” he said.

Arul also reiterated that 1MDB’s top executives have been extending their full cooperation to the review being conducted by the Auditor-General’s office.

“These enquiries, which are transparent and bipartisan, should answer the many questions that have been asked of the company. As such, we request all parties to await the outcome of these independent enquiries, and refrain from making irresponsible and unfounded allegations in the meantime,” said Arul.

“(We) look forward to appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),” he added.

Both Barisan Nasional federal and opposition lawmakers have slammed the excuses given by both Arul and former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Halmi for failing to turn up at a PAC inquiry into the troubled company on Tuesday.

1MDB incurred RM42 billion in debts in just six years of operations, but Putrajaya has said its assets of RM51 billion can cover the sum.

On May 26, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) had also caused an uproar about 1MDB’s funds in Singapore. It had declared that the US$1.1 billion 1MDB transferred from the Cayman Islands to Singapore was not in cash, as it had earlier announced in Parliament, but assets of “units”. However, MoF did not specify what these units were.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 29, 2015.