(July 24): Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho has been summoned to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on September 8 to answer questions on debt-ridden state  fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), The Star reports.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said they had sent a letter to the Finance Ministry for Low to appear given that ministry was the "main shareholder of 1MDB".

“They should know his whereabouts or be able to trace him,” Nur Jazlan reportedly said.

He also said that it was not "PAC's problem" how the ministry would locate the businessman, also known as Jho Low, adding that the ministry would have resources at its disposal.

"It can get the police to locate him," Nur Jazlan said, according to the English-language daily.

Low was involved in 1MDB's precursor, the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA). And while he is not on 1MDB's payroll, he has described himself as an unofficial and occasional consultant.

PAC has also summoned directors of Brazen Sky Limited, to appear on September 9 following findings in the auditor-general's interim report on 1MDB.

The state fund had invested RM6.1billion in Brazen Sky.

It was reported last month that the sum of US$1.103 billion (RM4.1 billion) 1MDB had redeemed from Brazen Sky's fund in Cayman Islands was “not kept in US dollars, but as units” in BSI Bank Ltd in Singapore.

1MDB has come under the public scrutiny for its whopping debts of RM42 billion debts racked up in six years of operations. But it has not been able to generate enough to service its debts.

Consequently, the investment fund is currently stepping up efforts to hive off its assets, namely power generation plants and land, to ease its extremely tight cash flow.

It is also under investigation by a task force, and its accounts are being inspected by the auditor-general for review by the PAC. – The Malaysian Insider