KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): A year ago -- on Jan 12 to be exact -- The Edge Malaysia published an interview with 1Malaysia Development Bhd president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy, in which he spoke about 1MDB's multibillion-ringgit debt woes after assuming the post almost a month earlier to help rationalise the troubled company.

Today, in the latest cover story of The Edge Malaysia (Jan 11-Jan 17), after what can largely be described as a rough-and-tumble 12 months, the soon-to-be 40-year-old Arul Kanda, a Royal Military College old boy, shared what the past year has been like for him at -- in his own words -- Malaysia's most investigated company.

He spoke at length and answered some of the most difficult questions about 1MDB and explained why there was nothing wrong with how the state-owned entity racked up the amount of debt it did. He also addressed how Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak became chairman of the advisory board, the status of the asset and debt swap deal with Ipic -- and what makes Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co (Ipic) give the beleaguered 1MDB a helping hand in the first place. 

He also talked about the series of auditor changes that took place at 1MDB, the land in Air Itam, Penang, 1MDB's delayed FY2015 financial statements and how the March 31, 2016 extension deadline granted for it to be filed will also likely be missed, the issue of accountability, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's attacks of 1MDB, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz's view of how the entity had not contributed to the country, and that, despite everything, there was no fire sale to foreigners to save the financially distressed 1MDB.

"There was no fire sale. We have got full if not higher value for our assets than what the market anticipated. The land sales in TRX (Tun Razak Exchange) are proof of that, we set new benchmarks. For Edra (Global Bhd), we sold it at almost full value, in terms of equity value on our books. Same thing for Bandar Malaysia, I don't think anyone believed me when I said RM11 billion to RM12 billion, but we did it for RM12.35 billion in terms of land value," he said.

To Arul Kanda, the only thing that went wrong for 1MDB was the fact that the much touted Edra initial public offering (IPO) did not take place due to a loss of confidence.

"...had the IPO happened as planned, 1MDB would not be in the news at all...There were three things that caused the loss of confidence. The first was the first ever loss of RM665 million. Then you had the delayed IPO, or the IPO that never happened. And then there was a loan (RM2 billion syndicated loan) that was due (by mid-February) for which there was no immediate solution. Obviously, it was supposed to have been repaid through the IPO.

"It was these three biggest factors that resulted in the loss of confidence," said Arul Kanda.

During the interview, he was also asked if any of the money raised by 1MDB would be repatriated back to Malaysia.

"No. For the simple reason that we don’t need to...On the one hand, a big portion of the money has been spent for prior fund unit monetisation, albeit in the form of assets...Everyone has a wishlist of what they would like to see. But the reality is, we are in a situation where we have limited options. And so we have had to make the best of what we have," he said.

To find out the the rest of what he said and all the questions that were put to him, pick up a copy of The Edge Malaysia from newsstands around you.

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