KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — DAP MP Tony Pua has urged 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy to publicly admit or deny if the state-owned firm had violated banking procedures in its 2009 deal with PetroSaudi International.

In a statement last night, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP cited Sarawak Report's (SR) latest release of a purported Letter of Authorisation from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), which he claimed provides "clear-cut evidence" of criminal breach of trust and other financial crimes allegedly committed by the state-owned firm.

Pua noted that in the 29 September 2009 letter published Sunday by the whistleblower site, BNM had granted permission for 1MDB to invest US$1 billion to acquire a 40 per cent stake in 1MDB's joint venture with PetroSaudi on several conditions, which he alleged the state-owned firm had not complied with.

"Arul Kanda must come clean if 1MDB breached Bank Negara Malaysia conditions for the transfer of funds overseas," the lawmaker said in the statement.

"Arul Kanda must now also confirm if the Letter of Authorisation from Bank Negara published by Sarawak Report is also genuine.

"The exposé is of massive importance because it provides clear-cut evidence for the investigating authorities and the Attorney-General to charge the responsible officials for criminal breach of trust, abetting misappropriation and embezzlement as well as a host of other crimes under the Financial Services Act governed by Bank Negara," he added.

SR last week published the purported minutes of a January 12 1MDB board meeting along with an accusation that Arul Kanda had lied to the board about cash in the firm's BSI Singapore bank account.

In his response later, Arul Kanda confirmed that the minutes appeared to be an authentic 1MDB document and that January 12 was his first meeting since joining the firm on January 5 this year. He, however, denied lying to the board.

Yesterday, 1MDB said in a statement that it has lodged a police report on the alleged leak of its confidential documents.