Apart from the Cayman Island funds that 1Malaysia Development (1MDB) claims to have repatriated today, DAP points at other possibly “mysterious” investments by the company.
Tony Pua, who is also a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said today that the 1MDB financial report for the year ending March 2014 stated that it had another USD 1.56 billion “placed in various investment portfolios under the custody of a licensed financial institution with good credit ratings as rated by international credit rating agencies”.
He said that the amount originated from a US$ 3 billion loan taken by 1MDB in March 2013 meant for a joint venture investment with Abu Dhabi Government to form the Abu Dhabi Malaysia Investment Corporation (ADMIC). However, he said, that ADMIC remains stillborn while the balance of RM 5.15 billion “has been utilised by the company for working capital and debt repayment purposes”.
“The question I have is, where is the USD 1.56 billion ( RM5.7 billion) invested and located?”
“Are these funds also similarly managed by a mysterious fund manager who cannot-be-named based in the financially secretive Cayman Islands?”
He added that the RM 5.7 billion was also classified as a “Level 3 asset” by Deloitte Malaysia, meaning that the value of the asset are not based on observable market data.
“In layman’s terms, Deloitte Malaysia is saying that it has no way of verifying the real value of these “investments”.”
Much like the Cayman islands investment which the government refused to divulge information about, Pua regards this RM 5.7 billion as another “mysterious portfolio”.
At the time, the government refused to reveal the identity of the 1MDB’s Cayman Island’s fund manager. It was after being exposed by Singapore Business Times (SBT), that the public found out about a small investment bank, Bridge Capital Partners based in Hong Kong that managed the funds.
“The question is, where is the US$1.56 billion invested and located? Are these funds also similarly managed by a mysterious fund manager who cannot-be-named based in the financially secretive Cayman Islands?”
Arul Kandasamy, 1MDB’s new Chief Executive officer (CEO), announced today that the US$ 2.32 billion (RM8.24 billon) was repatriated.
“Therefore, we call upon the new 1MDB CEO, Arul Kandasamy to embark on a new journey of transparency and accountability by disclosing the nature and status of the additional US$1.5 billion investment including, but not limited to the name and location of the fund manager and the investment’s rate of return. ” Pua added. -The Rocket
