KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — Under-fire 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has failed to provide the full list of documents requested by the Auditor-General (A-G) for its investigation into the strategic fund, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan said today.
Among the documents that have yet to be provided by 1MDB during the three-month investigation included several bank statements and agreements involving the fund’s investments, said the Pulai MP.
“The Auditor-General Department has yet to get good cooperation from 1MDB. It has yet to receive several documentations for them to carry out their task,” Nur Jazlan told reporters at the sidelines of a presentation of the report to PAC in Parliament.
“So we ask 1MDB’s management to please cooperate with the National Audit Department to give all documentations and information requested for them to continue its audit and finalise its report by the end of the year.”
Nur Jazlan said he hoped 1MDB would provide the documents by the time the A-G holds its interview with the fund’s past and current chief executives scheduled next month.
Despite that, Nur Jazlan did not confirm if the federal government will take legal action to compel 1MDB to release the documents by the year-end deadline.
Instead, the MP said the government will use the position of the Finance Ministry as 1MDB’s full owner to “persuade” the fund.
1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy and his predecessor Datuk Shahrol Ibrahim Halmi had in May skipped a PAC hearing on 1MDB into questionable deals made by the state-owned fund.
The independent check of 1MDB’s accounts by the A-G was ordered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 4, after a British paper, The Sunday Times in collaboration with whistleblower site Sarawak Report, ran an exposé alleging impropriety in the firm’s venture with oil exploration and production firm PetroSaudi International.
A special task force has also been formed to investigate 1MDB, comprising the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia, the police and the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission.
