KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s account of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) whopping RM42 billion bill raises more questions on the debt-riddled state investment firm, DAP’s Tony Pua said today.

The federal opposition lawmaker said the 1MDB chief executive’s attempt to explain offered “nothing that we don’t already know” from the company’s March 2014 financial statements, but was instead void of the nitty-gritty details concerning its RM16.4 billion investment funds for which he and others, including from the ruling party, have repeatedly asked.

“The questions which we asked however, remained completely unanswered,” the DAP national publicity secretary said in a statement, listing past questions concerning the investments parked in several foreign ventures abroad including in the Cayman Islands.

“Worse, his disclosure raised even more questions for 1MDB,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said further and demanded Arul Kanda own up to the issues confronting the company.

He asked if the CEO was admitting that 1MDB borrowed further to pay the interests that piled up on its loans and taxes because the company was unable to repay them with the returns from the unknown assets it had bought previously.

“Does that not imply that the whole 1MDB investment strategy is an absolute disaster and the management is at best, completely incompetent or at worst, involved in fraud and embezzlement?” he asked.

In a media release yesterday, Arul Kanda provided a graphical breakdown of 1MDB’s spending in response to the deluge of criticism against the company, including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In a brief statement accompanying a graphical presentation of the breakdown, Arul Kanda pointed out that every single ringgit in the RM41.8 billion it used has been accounted for.

“In recent weeks, there has been much speculation about the use of RM42 billion of debt raised by 1MDB, and more specifically that RM27 billion of debt proceeds are alleged to be ‘lost’ or ‘missing’,” he said.

1MDB, incorporated in 2009 after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak moved to turn state investment fund Terengganu Investment Authority into a federal agency, is currently under investigation by the Auditor-General and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

Last week, at an anticipated Cabinet briefing on a proposal to restructure 1MDB, Second Finance Minister announced that the debt-laden firm will receive RM1 billion from Abu Dhabi’s Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to repay a US$975 million loan maturing soon.

The minister said the payment secured from IPIC and its subsidiary, Aabar Investments, is part of the rationalisation plan to help the indebted firm meet its loan obligations and reduce its liabilities.

The US$975 million loan is due in August but a consortium of German bankers is reportedly seeking an early settlement due to a breach of covenant in the loan agreement by 1MDB.