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Zafrul confirms govt going after KPMG over 1MDB scandal

Zafrul confirms govt going after KPMG over 1MDB scandal
Zafrul confirms govt going after KPMG over 1MDB scandal

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz confirmed today that the government is going after auditor KPMG over the 1MDB scandal.

This was after Damansara MP Tony Pua questioned why Putrajaya did not go after KPMG even though Deloitte, another of 1MDB's auditors, had paid RM336 million in a settlement for its role in the scandal.

Zafrul said the government is currently in negotiation with KPMG for a settlement.

"Negotiations are also currently ongoing with KPMG," he said in a statement today.

Zafrul revealed this when announcing the government had recovered another RM1.9 billion (US$452,363,867.40) in stolen 1MDB funds.

The repatriation of the fund was made possible with the help of the US Department of Justice.

To date, a total of RM16.05 billion in 1MDB funds have been recovered.


READ MORE: MOF recovers another RM1.9b stolen 1MDB funds, total now at RM16.05b


"This balance excludes the settlement amount of RM2.83 billion that will be received from the Ambank Group and RM336 million from Deloitte PLT," Zafrul (above) said.

Ambank had agreed to the settlement for failing to raise red flags when billions of ringgit entered the accounts of then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, which investigators say can be traced to 1MDB.

Deloitte acted as 1MDB's auditor from 2013 to 2016 while KPMG was the 1MDB auditor from 2010 to 2012.

1MDB had cooked its books to conceal the fact that massive loans it had taken out were misappropriated.

Zafrul said the recovered funds would be used to service the debts of 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

However, 1MDB and SRC International are still owed RM39.8 billion and RM2.57 billion respectively, after the repayments with the recovered funds.