KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has expressed concern about 'sloppy' reports in The Star today on certain transactions undertaken by the sovereign wealth fund.
In describing the local English daily as a “regulated and licensed newspaper” 1MDB said The Star had made several assertions based on the opinions of an unnamed "investigator" regarding a number of transactions made.
1MDB said it was concerned the newspaper is presenting such unsubstantiated opinions as fact in its reporting.
“Further, it is a well-known fact that a number of lawful authorities are conducting investigations on 1MDB and no final determination has yet to be made,” it said in a statement today.
The Star had in its report titled, “1MDB’s RM13bil assets cannot be sold easily”, wrote that investigators poring over the books of 1MDB felt that almost RM13bil of its assets that have been classified as available-for-sale cannot be easily liquidated.
This, 1MDB said, was clearly wrong as the notes to the March 30, 2014 financial statements of 1MDB, as audited without qualification by Deloitte, described how USD1.22 billion (about RM 4.6 billion) of these assets had in fact been liquidated and cash proceeds utilised.
1MDB said The Star further stated that "there was no document related to the existence of assets and valuation of PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman)".
This, it said was “blatantly incorrect”, as there was a valuation report prepared when the investment was made and 1MDB had in fact submitted the same report to the authorities for their review.
“Such sloppy reporting by The Star, a regulated and licensed newspaper, is disappointing,” 1MDB said.
The state-owned fund added that in relation to the interim report on 1MDB presented on July 9 to the Public Accounts committee (PAC) by the National Audit Department, PAC chairman (Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed) had clearly stated that "there is nothing suspicious in the interim report".
“It is, therefore, clear there is no truth to allegations that "RM 42 billion" or "RM 16 billion" is missing, an allegation that has been repeated by various parties.”
1MDB noted that a number of lawful authorities were currently conducting investigations into the fund and that they were fully cooperating with the investigations.
“We trust that appropriate measures will be taken by the lawful authorities to ensure the integrity of such investigations,” it added.