KUALA LUMPUR (July 9): The Ministry of Finance (MoF) said today that a writ and statement of claim has been filed against 44 individual partners of KPMG PLT, confirming a report published earlier today by The Edge.
The plaintiffs of the lawsuit filed on Tuesday (July 6) are the government of Malaysia, the Minister of Finance Inc, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and four other subsidiaries of 1MDB, an authorised ministry spokesperson said via a messenger app.
"The claim is related to the 1MDB audit works performed by KPMG for the years 2010 to 2012. As the matter is already before the court, MoF is unable to make further comments in observing the rule of sub judice," the spokesperson added.
In its report earlier, theedgemarkets.com wrote that a US$5.64billion (RM23.63 billion) suit has been filed against the KPMG partners, in which the plaintiffs alleged there were breaches of contract and negligence in the audit and certification of 1MDB’s financial statements for the financial years ended March 31, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
KPMG was sacked as 1MDB's auditor, after it refused to sign off on its FY13 accounts.
In the statement of claim sighted by theedgemarkets, the plaintiffs alleged US$5.64 billion were misappropriated from 1MDB and its related subsidiaries to the benefit of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his associates or nominees.
Of the US$5.64 billion, they claimed US$3.197 billion was misappropriated during the three financial years that KPMG was 1MDB's auditor.
The statement of claim indicated that the other plaintiffs, besides 1MDB, the government and MOF Inc, are 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd (1MEHL), 1MDB Energy Ltd (1MEL), 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd (1MELL) and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd, formerly known as 1MDB Global Investment Company Ltd.
It was previously reported that MoF was looking at a settlement with KPMG in relation to the 1MDB scandal, which the ministry had confirmed on June 3, when it announced the receipt of RM336 million (US$80 million) as settlement from Deloitte PLT, which took over the audit works at 1MDB, after KPMG was sacked.
Last Friday (July 2), the ministry announced it had received RM1.8 billion from AMMB Holdings Bhd, being part of the RM2.83 billion settlement that the banking group had agreed to pay for its role in the 1MDB scandal, with the remaining amount to be settled by July 2022.
As at July 2, Malaysia’s Assets Recovery Trust Account had received RM18.176 billion of funds seized, returned or for settlements in connection with 1MDB.