Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
GEORGE TOWN - Since an international audit firm has already cleared 1Malaysia Development Berhads
(1MDB) financial dealings, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will not touch the
government-link company (GLC).
PAC chairman Nur Jazlan Mohamed said, A big name international reputable auditing firm has already
audited the company and given (its) okay on 1MDBs books.
So what are we going to use as (a) basis to investigate it? asked Nur Jazlan during a question and
answer session at a forum here last night jointly organised by the Penang Institute and the Centre to
Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) entitled: Government Audit: Formality or Accountability?
Other panelists were Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) legal advisor Han Chee Rul and Penang
Institute director and Bukit Mertajam MP from DAP Steven Sim.
Nur Jazlan was responding to a question on whether PAC would probe into various allegations of rising
debts and financial controversies made against 1MDB, a GLC established under the Prime Ministers
Department.
The Pulai MP also argued that allegations and figures given by 1MDBs most vocal critics, Pakatan
Rakyat MPs Tony Pua of DAP and Rafizi Ramli of PKR, were not substantiated and accurate after all.
Pua and Rafizis figures at times are not even correct, he said.
He also raised suspicion as to why a particular Jho Low had been linked to 1MDB when the persons
connection with the GLC could not be established by critics.
Meanwhile MACCs Han spoke at length about the issue of illicit flows of money, pointing out the
inaccurate methodology deployed by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) to rate nations.
For instance, he said Malaysia might export RM80 billion worth of goods to Japan.
But, he said only RM70 billion goods would have reached the Far East country directly while another
RM10 billion exported indirectly to Japan via other countries such as Hong Kong or Singapore.
The GFI methodology however, he said would not take into account the RM10 billion indirect exports to
Japan and would classify it as illicit flow of money.
I pointed it this out to GFI at an international forum. None of the GFI authors objected to my point, said
Han.
Last years annual report of the Washington-based GFI index revealed that Malaysia lost RM171 billion in
illegal outflows of money in 2012 and was ranked fifth in the world.
It also revealed that the country had lost some RM1.38 trillion since 2003.
According to the GFI index, China topped the list of the illegal outflow of capital in 2012 with US$249.57
billion, followed by Russia (US$122.86 billion), India (US$94.76 billion), Mexico (US$59.66 billion) and
Malaysia is US$49 billion.
Last nights forum was officiated by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng while C4 co-founder Cynthia
Gabriel was the forum moderator. - FMT
AuditorGeneral Tan Sri Ambrin Buang says he has no reason to probe Malaysia Airport
Holdings Bhd over the construction of klia2. The Malaysian Insider file pic, November
29, 2014.The Auditor-General (A-G) said today he had no reason to
He added that the government needed to give his department the green light first
for it to scrutinise MAHB's accounts.
"We have to have discussions. I cannot go in without proper authority," he said.
But he added that his department reviewed from time to time the list of
companies they investigated, adding that they would begin with any firm the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended.
Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang says 1MDB is already being audited by the big
four. The Malaysian Insider pic by Zhafri Azmi, November 29, 2014. On 1MDB, he
said the state sovereign funds had already given clarification on its investment
and business strategies.
"What do you want us to do? As far as their accounts are concerned they have
already been audited by the big four," he said.
Ambrin added that 1MDB had already filed its accounts with the Companies
Commission of Malaysia, which had not raised any objections.
However, fellow panellist Tony Pua, the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara who also sits
on the PAC, argued that the A-Gs audit of 1MDBs accounts was necessary as the
private firms may have overlooked certain aspects.
He said that private auditing firms would not quiz 1MDB as to why they had paid
fees, commissions and expenses at an excess of 10% to raise bonds, when other
governments paid at a far lower rate.
So if I were from PricewaterhouseCoopers, as long as I can see that Goldman
Sachs received 10%, officially the receipt and payment given to Goldman Sachs,
thats what I put in the accounts, said the DAP publicity chief.
Deloitte wouldnt ask how come you (1MDB) pay 10%, other people pay 5%, or
0.1%. So the role of our governments auditors is to look at the performance of it
and value audit if our companies are actually spending our money in a value-formoney method.
Critics of 1MDB have questioned the fund's heavy debts, its use of money and its
opaque operations.
Among its staunchest critics is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had called on
Putrajaya to explain how the fund had benefited Malaysians, especially since it
incurred a RM38 billion debt in just five years of its operations.
Dr Mahathir had said that there was no need for 1MDB as it only served to add on
to the country's debt.
However, 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin had said that its
assets stood at RM51.4 billion, about RM2.5 billion more than its liabilities of
RM48.9 billion as of March 31, 2014.
He denied that its acquisition of energy assets was overpriced, adding that its real
estate investments, including the 70ha financial hub, known as the Tun Razak
6