The Malaysian Insight

AFTER countering former prime minister Najib Razak’s latest salvo against him, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has shot back with several pointed questions of his own.

Lim wants Najib to explain where all the money that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) borrowed went to.

According to Lim, about US$8.3 billion (RM33 billion) in investments and borrowings were never used for the ventures these funds were intended for.

Instead of debating whether the Finance Ministry (MoF) had bailed out 1MDB, Najib should account for the following transactions, Lim said in his statement.

“Where has the US$1.83 billion invested with PetroSaudi between 2009 and 2011 gone to?

“Where has the US$3.5 billion raised in 2012 for the purposes of acquiring power plants in Malaysia gone to?

“Where has the US$3 billion raised in 2013 for the purpose of investing in TRX gone to?”

The troubled state firm, which Najib started and oversaw until his defeat in GE14, had racked up RM42 billion in debts and is at the centre of graft probes involving six-countries.

Najib himself has been questioned over the US$4.5 billion allegedly siphoned from 1MDB. He maintains he did nothing wrong.

In a statement today, Lim refuted Najib’s assertion that the MoF was not bailing out 1MDB when it paid RM6.98 billion to settle the firm’s debts.

Najib argued this was because MoF had taken over all of 1MDB’s assets including the TRX and Bandar Malaysia property deals.

Lim stressed that the payments were tantamount to the largest bailout the government has ever had to pay and that the RM6.98 billion included payments unrelated to the two assets.

These payments are for:

* coupon interest of RM5 billion for a 30-year bond issued in 2009. This was mainly used for 1MDB’s failed investment with PetroSaudi International Limited.

* coupon interest for US$3.5 billion’s worth of 10-year bonds issued in May and October 2012. These were intended for the acquisition of power plant assets. These assets have been disposed of and their proceeds completely utilised but the bonds remain outstanding in 1MDB.

* coupon interest for US$3 billion of a 10-year bond issued in March 2013. Although the funds were intended for the development of TRX, the auditor-general said they were never used for the project.

MoF, Lim said, will work with the 1MDB special committee to recover as much of the stolen funds as possible.

“It will plug the debts and deficits created by the Najib administration, and punish those responsible for the worst corruption scandal ever in Malaysian history,” the finance minister added. – May 27, 2018.