KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Opposition lawmaker Tony Pua accused today state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) of tampering with its audited March 2014 financial statements that was given to a consortium of local banks in relation to a US$1.22 billion (RM4.03 billion) loan it took.

The DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara said he has a strong reason to believe that the troubled state investment arm had doctored its statement to conceal its inability to repay the loan.

He said he based his allegation on a the copy of the audited accounts obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), a paragraph from the statement should have read:

“As of the date of this report, the amounts received from the redemption of investments of US$1.22 billion (RM4.03 billion) in the SPC above have been substantially utilised for the purpose of debt interest payment, working capital and payments to Aabar as refundable deposits pursuant to a Settlement Agreement to extinguish the Options Agreement.”

But Pua said the copy of statement given to the banks had “in all likelihood” changed the word “utilised” to “set aside”.

“By changing just one word...1MDB has transformed entirely the meaning of the paragraph.

Based on the certified true copy lodged with the SSM, the auditors confirmed that the US$1.22 billion redeemed has more or less been used up.

“However, by amending to “set aside”, the audited accounts would provide a false assurance to the lenders that 1MDB has already set aside nearly US$1.22 billion of cash to pay them when the interest and loans become due,” Pua said.

When asked if he has proof to support his claims Pua said he “is making an allegation” and wants Bank Negara to prove his allegation wrong.

“I am happy to be disproved and humiliated publicly if I’m wrong,” the DAP national publicity secretary told a news conference here.

Pua said he also has reasons to believe that the above amendment is not the only alteration made to the 2014 financial statements.

“I call upon all lenders to 1MDB to peruse through the financial statements with a fine toothcomb to discover all the discrepancies between the original copy lodged with SSM and and the doctored copy in their hands,” he said.

Pua pointed out that tampering with account statements is a serious criminal offence under the Penal Code.

The Petaling Jaya Utara lawmaker also questioned the integrity of the documents provided by 1MDB to the Auditor-General for investigation on the firm’s finances following his expose.

“I would be very worried if they have been similarly tampered to hide the wrongdoings of the company and its directors and officers,” Pua said.

The National Audit Department is currently auditing the firm under the instruction of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak  for suspected financial misappropriation.

But the prime minister has been personally implicated in the scandal after US-based paper Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last month claimed US$700 million were moved through government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.

in its article, WSJ had claimed to have sighted documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising 1MDB.

Najib has repeatedly denied taking funds from 1MDB or any other public entity for “personal gain” and his lawyers have since asked the WSJ to state if it is accusing the prime minister of misappropriating funds.

A special task force — comprising the police, Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission — has since been set up to investigate the claims.