KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Auditors Deloitte have approved the delayed accounts of 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) but not before highlighting numerous issues with billions of ringgit from its funds.
Deloitte was appointed to vet the accounts of the “strategic development firm” after the previous auditors, KPMG, said it could not finalise the book-keeping.
According to a report in The Star today, among the issues pointed out by Deloitte were the placement of RM1.56 billion meant for the development of The Razak Exchange (TRX) here in offshore accounts, bringing the total amount the firm has parked abroad to RM3.8 billion.
The auditors also noted that 1MDB was forced to list approximately US$2.3 billion (RM7.5 billion) that it had placed in an offshore firm in the Cayman Islands tax haven as “assets for sale” after it discovered it had no control over the segregated portfolio company.
1MDB also listed RM2.7 billion in revaluation gains on its accounts, Deloitte highlighted, despite the absence of detailed development plans for both TRX and Bandar Malaysia. It also found that the use status of various plots of freehold land were undetermined.
Last week, news agency Reuters reported that 1MDB’s net profit for the year to end-March 2013 surged to RM778.2 million, up from RM44.7 million the previous year.
It said liabilities grew to RM42 billion from RM8.4 billion, while assets rose to RM44.6 billion from RM9.5 billion.
The fund has been dogged by negative publicity over massive fees paid for bond sales, the near one-year delay in publishing its financial accounts, and most recently, its changing auditors.
