This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 9, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the repatriation of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-related assets from the US and Singapore will be used to service the fund’s debts currently amounting to RM51 billion.

Guan Eng said the RM51 billion debt includes the amount of interest borne and loans from the ministry of finance (MoF) of RM8.6 billion that were used to repay 1MDB’s debts to date.

Besides that, the funds will also be used to pay legal and litigation costs arising from efforts to repatriate and dispose of 1MDB assets around the world, he added in a statement yesterday.

“The repatriation of these assets is a first step towards resolving the issues that surround 1MDB and the recovery of Malaysia’s reputation so that the country will no longer be known as a kleptocratic nation,” Guan Eng said.

The finance minister also highlighted the fact that these assets were repatriated to the Malaysian government through legal processes proved that 1MDB-related wrongdoings have indeed occurred.

“The government will continue in its efforts to recover other 1MDB assets, and at the same time strengthen internal controls and anti-corruption initiatives to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future,” he said.

Yesterday, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas revealed that the US government had returned US$57.04 million (RM236.7 million) given up by Red Granite Pictures, a US-based film production company linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his stepson Riza Aziz.

The money, which has been credited into the 1MDB asset recovery account — a segregated trust account opened specifically for this purpose — is part of the US$60 million that was forfeited from Red Granite following a settlement recorded before the Court of California in the US in March last year.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has returned US$126 million worth of 1MDB-related assets to Malaysia so far. This includes the amount given up by Red Granite Pictures as well as proceeds from the sale of confiscated luxury yacht Equanimity.

In total, the Attorney-General’s Chambers announced that US$322 million from 1MDB assets is to be returned to Malaysia following the DoJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Of this, the DoJ is in the process of returning US$139 million to Malaysia from the sale of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho’s interest in the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan.

On top of this, a Singapore court had also instructed S$50 million (RM152.32 million) in 1MDB-related funds to be returned to Malaysia. Of this, S$15 million has been received and another S$35 million is the amount to be received from Singapore.

Hence, the total sum of 1MDB-related assets that has been announced to be returned to Malaysian government is RM1.47 billion to date.