Ask 1MDB to ‘clear the air’ before PAC, DAP tells Ahmad Maslan
Deputy finance minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan should allow the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to audit 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) if he is confident that the sovereign fund does not have any issues, says DAP.
Its national publicity secretary, Tony Pua, said in a statement today Ahmad’s defence of 1MDB after an Umno division leader lodged a police report against it should have given him the confidence to recommend the firm to testify before the PAC.
He also said that Ahmad should suggest 1MDB to be audited by the Auditor-General to dispel accusations of financial impropriety.
"If not, then clearly the deputy finance minister is just putting up a fake front to hide the real truths behind the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal," he added.
"Ahmad’s reputation is already in tatters after being forced to apologise and retract his answer in Parliament where he denied the existence of a US$3 billion (RM10 billion) ‘letter of support’ issued to secure a loan for 1MDB.
"If the above assurance is the most convincing response which one could elicit from the deputy finance minister, then he is certainly doing the worst possible job defending 1MDB.”
Ahmad yesterday asked 1MDB to face the public and clear the air over the company's finances as it relied on taxpayers’ money.
Pua said many reports stated that 1MDB only made profits consecutively from 2010 to 2013 due to revaluation of assets and properties, and not because of any tangible operating profit.
He said the fund made a “profit” of RM424 million on the back of a revaluation of its unlisted shares in a joint-venture investment of RM600 million.
He said that 1MDB recorded paper profits ranging from RM544 million to RM778 million on the back of its revaluation of properties of RM827 million, RM570 million and RM2.7 billion in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
But he said these properties were acquired at rock-bottom prices from the federal government.
He said that if not for the asset and property revaluation, 1MDB would have made consecutive losses of RM236 million, RM273 million, RM526 million and RM1.9 billion from 2010 to 2013.
He said the company reported losses of RM665 million in 2014, despite recording a property revaluation of RM897 million.
“In total over the five years, 1MDB which has taken more than RM42 billion to date, has incurred a staggering cumulative loss of RM4.56 billion,” he added.
Pua said Ahmad was off the mark when he attempted to assure Parliament last month that the fund was in good financial health by saying that it never missed a repayment deadline.
"1MDB has, not for the first time, missed the deadline to repay an outstanding debt.
"On November 30, 2014, 1MDB was due to repay a RM2 billion debt but failed to do so, instead it asked for an further extension from the financiers," Pua said.
He added that the sum was part of a debt due in November 2013 and which was restructured and extended several times.
Pua said the 1MDB which Ahmad declared to be financially strong was practically insolvent. Without the injection of new funds, it was unable to execute the multi-billion projects it secured from Putrajaya. – December 19, 2014.
