KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The Malaysian government announced today that it has received the remittance of US$80 million (RM340.92 million) from the out-of-court settlement related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) from international audit firm KPMG.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the funds deposited into Malaysia’s Assets Recovery Trust Account will be utilised to primarily repay and service 1MDB’s remaining debts.
In September 2021, MoF had announced the settlement will conclude the civil suit filed on July 6, 2021, against KPMG, which will expedite the payment of monies to fulfil 1MDB’s outstanding obligations, and save the court’s time and public resources.
“As at 31 December 2021, 1MDB’s outstanding debt comprising principal and coupons/ profit for bonds and Sukuk, amounted to RM38.81 billion.
“However, the current balance of the Trust Account is sufficient to pay off only the principal amount of the bonds for 2022.
“Once all the Trust Account funds are utilised, the government will continue to bear the obligation to pay the balance of 1MDB’s debts, whose issuance was backed by Government Guarantee and Letter of Support,” he said in a statement here.
According to the ministry, the Trust Account — under the custody of the Accountant General’s Department of Malaysia — has received a total of RM19.138 billion in connection with the 1MDB financial scandal to date.
Tengku Zafrul further said the government has repaid RM13.3 billion of 1MDB’s debt so far using funds from the Trust Account.
He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the 1MDB asset recovery efforts which included adequate allocations to settle 1MDB debts in order to manage the national financial burden created by 1MDB.
Previously, the government also announced a similar out-of-court settlement related to 1MDB from international audit firm Deloitte PLT, where the latter agreed to remit US$80 million (RM336 million) to resolve all claims related to their fiduciary duty on auditing the accounts of 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC) from 2011 to 2014.
