KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The Finance Ministry said its clarification that 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) deposit in Singapore was in assets instead of cash negates Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s accusation that it lied about matter.

In a statement responding to the former prime minister’s claims of a cover-up today, the ministry noted that it voluntarily amended its own answer in Parliament that had erroneously stated that the US$1.103 billion (RM3.97 billion) 1MDB transferred from the Cayman Islands to a Singapore bank was in cash.

It further explained that the written reply in Dewan Rakyat that was issued by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the financial standing of 1MDB in BSI Singapore was written and verified by a ministry officer based on information from the state-owned firm1MDB.

“The ministry’s action to amend the original answer is proof that there was no intention whatsoever to lie about the matter,” it said in a statement today.

“Consequently, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s allegation that Datuk Seri Najib, who is also finance minister, lied was unwarrranted.”

Earlier today, Dr Mahathir demanded a criminal probe against Najib for what he alleged was a “cover-up” of 1MDB’s finances, after it was revealed that the sum previously said to be in cash was confirmed to be in the form of “units”.

He also insisted that Bank Negara Malaysia would have been informed by Singaporean authorities of the fact that the amount was not in the form of US dollars as had been asserted.

“The ‘cover-up’ act or the act of hiding offences committed in government transactions is legally wrong,” Dr Mahathir wrote in a blog post, citing Section 218 of the Penal Code.

Section 218 imposes a punishment of a maximum jail term of three years, or a fine, or both for public servants who prepare records that they know to be incorrect, knowing that doing so will cause losses to the public or do so with the intent to escape legal punishment.

The country’s longest-serving prime minister also said the claims made by Najib, government officials, Bank Negara and 1MDB that cash had been brought back from the Cayman Islands and kept in Singapore’s BSI Bank, as well as the clarification to the first parliamentary reply that it was documents and not cash that were brought back, were untrue.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said Thursday that the US$1.103 billion 1MDB redeemed had been mistakenly described as “cash” instead of just assets.

He told reporters that the redemption, now parked in Singapore’s BSI Bank, is in the form of “units” and not US dollars as previously claimed by 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

1MDB, which is facing a debt burden of RM42 billion, is currently being investigated by the Auditor-General and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.