KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy has come out to say that he will take full responsibility for the misunderstanding of a parliamentary response submitted by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), regarding the funds redeemed from the Cayman Islands and parked in Singapore.

Arul was responding to recent comments made by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his blog post. Dr Mahathir had on May 28 wrote on his blog that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is responsible for his written reply in the Parliament on 1MDB's assets in Singapore, after Putrajaya said it was prepared by ministry officials.

This follows Najib's written parliamentary reply in March that the remaining US$1.103 billion (RM4.08 billion) of 1MDB’s investment funds was transferred to its account in Singapore’s BSI Bank Ltd to ease the facilitation of transactions.

But in another reply on May 19, Najib reportedly said the balance of the investment redeemed by 1MDB were assets in US dollar for the purpose of balancing its liabilities, which were also in US dollar.

On May 24, the MoF said the documents on the financial status of 1MDB at BSI Bank were written and checked by its officials based on information from the company. The ministry was also reported as saying that it had amended the original reply on March 10 so as not to create confusion about the financial status of 1MDB in BSI Bank, in line with requirements of Parliament.

In a statement today, Arul conceded that the parliamentary response submitted by the MoF was subsequently amended.

"This has been previously acknowledged by the MoF, and occurred due to confusion around some information provided by 1MDB. As the president of the company, I take full responsibility for this misunderstanding, and will ensure better communication with all stakeholders.

"Furthermore, as clarified by the MoF, appropriate steps have already been implemented to prevent this [from] happening again in the future," he said in the statement.

Arul also made it clear that his role at the troubled state investment fund is as a professional.

"As a professional, I am fully accountable for my actions and am answerable to the 1MDB Board, and our shareholder the MoF. In the current context, this also includes the Auditor General, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Public Accounts Committee.

"These are the lawful authorities to verify whether or not I have ever lied, as has been claimed, as they have access to all information. I shall continue to conduct my duties in a professional manner, and furnish all information to assist the lawful authorities to verify the truth about 1MDB," said Arul.

In Dr Mahathir’s latest blog post yesterday, the former premier had accused Arul of lying, after the latter was caught being untruthful several times over the company’s dealings.

“Almost as soon as he (Arul) took over management of 1MDB he announced that the money from Cayman’s Island has been returned. He said clearly and openly that he saw the cash, that is, US$1 billion in cash.

“Then he said it was statements. What are the statements? Anyway in the end the bank said no cash and only documents were deposited in it and the documents carried false signatures,” Dr Mahathir wrote.

In today’s statement, Arul hit out at Dr Mahathir, saying the latter's continuous shift in numbers and allegations is perplexing.

"Tun Mahathir has previously claimed that RM42 billion is missing. Now, after 1MDB provided a summary of how the RM42 billion was spent — based on past audited financial statements, he has stated in his blog post 'where a chunk of the RM42 billion went is questionable'," Arul added.