Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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(July 14): 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) today questioned a claim made by DAP's Tony Pua that the company furnished doctored financial statements to its lenders, when he was not privy to the company's dealings.

In a statement, the state-owned firm accused the Petaling Jaya MP of making unsubstantiated and damaging allegations against the fund in his press conference today, adding that no lenders had declared an “event of default” for the reasons Pua had mentioned.

Earlier today, Pua said the fund's latest audited financial statements for March 2014 to banks was different from the copy extracted from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).

The amendment, the lawmaker said, was in regard to US$1.22 billion (RM4.6 billion) in funds, in which the word "utilised" was replaced with "set aside".

But 1MDB said today that Pua did not elaborate on the “valid reasons” of his statements.

"It is unclear to 1MDB on what basis YB Tony Pua, a third party who is not a banker to 1MDB – nor privy to the company's internal dealings, is making such unsubstantiated and damaging allegations against 1MDB.

"In any event, interaction between 1MDB and its bankers, including confidentiality obligations, are governed by contract and national law."

The state fund stressed that none of its lenders had declared "an event of default", adding that its official financial statements were publicly available at the CCM website for verification purposes.

1MDB also urged all parties to refer to official statements issued by them and its publicly available audited accounts for factual information.

“1MDB regrets that such statements on the company are being made by a third party such as YB Tony Pua and reported as fact on social media and online news websites.

"Such actions impact the day to day operations of 1MDB, a 100% government owned company, and the implementation of the 1MDB rationalisation plan," the fund said.

Pua had said this morning that based on the copy obtained from CCM, the auditors confirmed that the amount had been redeemed or more or less used up.

"But by changing one word – from 'utilised' to 'set aside' – the audited accounts to the banks would provide a false assurance to the lenders that 1MDB had already set aside nearly US$1.22 billion of cash to pay them when the interest and loans become due.”

He had also said that such a breach of warranty would automatically tantamount to an "event of default" typical in nearly all loan agreements between lenders and borrowers.

Pua explained that by triggering the event of default, all of 1MDB's outstanding loans to these institutions will become immediately due and payable. – The Malaysian Insider

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