AS the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) saga unfolds with many twists and turns, it is time for this elephant in the room to be tackled head on.

Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was very frank when he said in Milan last Friday that he was not able to defend the government and party when people asked about 1MDB because he did not know enough to explain.

Put it another way, he is saying that he too wants to know what has been happening to the company that has accumulated over RM42 billion in debts in six short years.

On top of that, a lot has been published on blogs and the media, including The Malaysian Insider and The Edge, furnished with documentary evidence that suggest something awfully wrong has taken place.

The time for denials, promises of no cover up, inaction and slow action (in the case of the auditor-general) is over.

And the best way forward is, as suggested by Umno vice-president and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, to appoint an independent international auditor to do a thorough forensic audit of 1MDB from its inception.

We support Hishammuddin’s call and we propose that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) — as the only firm among the Big Four which has not handled the 1MDB accounts — be appointed to do it.

PwC should be asked to come out with a true picture of the assets and liabilities of 1MDB within a month. And a thorough forensic audit covering all the deals — starting with the first RM5 billlon bond issue and the aborted joint venture with Petrosaudi International, right down to the newest transactions — must be done within three months.

Last but not least, a forensic audit must also look deep into the role of Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) and his dealings with top 1MDB executives, in particular its former chief executive Datuk Shahrol Halmi.

What must also be looked into is whether the board of directors, from the time Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh was chairman to his successor Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, had failed in their duty to ensure proper governance.

In order to ensure that PwC has absolute freedom to do the forensic audit, we propose that the government set up an independent team that will work with PwC to get to the bottom of the matter.

No one from 1MDB or its owner, the Ministry of Finance, should be involved. And PwC reports only to this independent team. It is time to reveal everything.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 11, 2015.