Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 12, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president and chief executive officer (CEO) Arul Kanda Kandasamy will be charged for the first time today in connection with the 1MDB scandal.

According to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the charge against Arul Kanda involves the alleged tampering of the final audit report on 1MDB. Also to be charged is former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“The charges will be read out in separate Sessions Courts at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex at 8am on Dec 12 (today),” the anti-graft agency said in a statement yesterday.

The MACC added that it had received the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ approval to press charges against Najib and Arul Kanda today.

The MACC also said Najib and Arul Kanda were arrested yesterday after they had gone to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya over the same probe into the alleged tampering of the final audit report on 1MDB. However, only Najib was released on bail.

Arul Kanda’s lawyer, Datuk N Sivananthan, was reported as saying Arul Kanda will be held overnight at the MACC headquarters, before he is produced in court today.

“He (Arul Kanda) is currently in MACC custody for his statement to be taken post-arrest,” Sivananthan told reporters at the MACC headquarters yesterday.

Sivananthan said Arul Kanda is likely to face a single charge under Section 23 of the MACC Act.

“As far as we know, it is only Datuk Seri Najib and Arul. I’m not sure if there’s any other person who is going to be charged tomorrow (today),” the lawyer said in a report by The Star.

On Sept 26, Arul Kanda was questioned by the police believed to be in connection with his 1MDB roadshows in the lead-up to the 14th general election.

Najib currently faces 38 charges relating to money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust involving state investment fund 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International. The former premier was chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board from 2009 to 2016.

On Nov 25, Auditor-General Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad confirmed that the original audit report on 1MDB was altered, and that orders to do so first came from then prime minister Najib.

She also disclosed that among others, paragraphs stating Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) attendance in one of 1MDB’s board meetings were removed as it was a sensitive matter and to avoid it being twisted by the opposition. Jho Low is wanted in connection with the 1MDB scandal.

“The unaltered version of the 1MDB audit report has been submitted to the MACC and the police for a further investigation in 2018,” she had said.

On the same day, the MACC was reported as saying it will commence an investigation into the alleged report tampering and would call several witnesses to assist the probe.

The MACC had also called up others to record statements to assist the probe, including former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang and former MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad.

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