KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed's repeated “false claims” on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) are hurting both the government-owned firm and the wider economy, 1MDB said in a statement yesterday.
1MDB said the former prime minister had continued to reiterate that the state investment arm's funds were lost or unaccounted for, despite its numerous statements countering his claims.
“Such allegations and misleading statements by Tun (Dr) Mahathir and certain opposition politicians, significantly impact the ability of 1MDB, a 100% government-owned company, to conduct its ongoing business and causes damage to the wider economy.
“Furthermore, such allegations negatively impact the implementation of the 1MDB rationalisation plan announced on May 29, 2015, which is intended to reduce the company’s debt levels and ensure that maximum value is generated for our 100% ultimate shareholder, the government of Malaysia,” it said.
1MDB said Dr Mahathir had not provided a shred of evidence to back his accusations against the firm, and his claims came in spite of KPMG and Deloitte standing behind their audits during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings.
The company said it trusted that PAC, as a lawful authority, would look into the allegations and “provide its judgement to conclusively resolve this matter”.
“1MDB remains committed to implementing the rationalisation plan and reaffirms our previously stated position that if any wrongdoing is found, then action must be taken by the lawful authorities, per due process and the laws of our country.”
On Monday, Dr Mahathir wrote that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's supporters did not seem to understand that 1MDB had borrowed RM42 billion to dabble in “shady businesses”, resulting in a loss of money.
Dr Mahathir said that in the process, a “large amount of money had disappeared”, a reiteration of his previous blog posts and statements made in public. — The Malaysian Insider
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 1, 2015.