1MDB not contacted by foreign investigators - Arul Kanda

"In terms of the Swiss investigations or the Singaporean investigations or the FBI investigations, 1MDB has not been contacted by any of those authorities," said Kanda, who was hired from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in January to conduct a strategic review of the state-owned fund, which owns mostly power and property assets.

The fund, which has Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as chairman of its advisory board, has amassed debt of more than US$11 billion, engulfing Najib in a political storm amid allegations at home and abroad of graft and financial mismanagement at the fund.

1MDB has denied all the allegations.

Singapore's police said in July they had frozen two bank accounts as part of an investigation linked to 1MDB.

"As far as I am aware, none of our accounts have been frozen," Kanda, 39, said at his office when asked about its Singapore accounts. Swiss authorities said at the end of August they had opened criminal proceedings against two 1MDB executives for suspected corruption and money laundering.

The Swiss froze several tens of millions of dollars at Swiss banks in conjunction to the probe. The growing controversy has battered Malaysian markets; the ringgit has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar this year, making it Asia's worst performing currency, and Malaysia's bonds have also fallen.

Ratings agencies have said they would be concerned if there were signs of broader policy-making being affected by the crisis, with Fitch warning it could downgrade the outlook on Malaysia's sovereign debt. Kanda said some media reports had been politically motivated to undermine Najib.

"Clearly there are other agendas being pushed forward; it's clear on the political front, of course, and I think that's now very apparent what each different group is trying to achieve," he said.

Kanda, a trained barrister who has experience in restructuring and corporate finance, concluded early in his tenure that 1MDB should sell many of its assets to cut debt.

He said on Tuesday that process was on track.

The selling of assets in power unit Edna Global Energy Bhd is a major plank of those efforts. Kanda said asset sales planned in the coming weeks would put 1MDB in a positive cash position from early 2016.

1MDB was established in 2008 as the Terengganu Investment Authority with RM10 billion to manage oil royalty payments to the resources-rich northern state of Terengganu.

When Najib came to power in 2009 he renamed it 1MDB and turned it into a fully fledged investment fund. 1MDB expanded by purchasing power assets and large plots of land in the capital and other local regions, racking up debt until it plunged to a loss last year.

Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) agreed in May to provide 1MDB with US$1 billion in cash, allowing the fund to repay a US$975 million loan to a global banking syndicate.