'Do not prejudge without thorough facts' - 1MDB

Government-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is urging the public and interested parties to be patient and understanding while waiting for the results of an independent review by the Auditor-General.

“We request that no one should prejudge the matter without thorough facts ahead of the reviews being made public. The board takes malicious and slanderous allegations seriously and reserves the right to undertake legal action,” it said in a statement.

The board also stressed that 1MDB accounts are audited by Deloitte, an international audit firm.

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“Deloitte signed off 1MDB’s accounts in 2013 and 2014 without qualification. Similarly, KPMG signed off the 2010, 2011 and 2012 accounts with no qualification,” it said.

It added that at present, the board and management is co-operating fully with the Auditor-General, the Royal Malaysian Police and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the conduct of their reviews of the company.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said they will begin to probe into 1MDB on May 19 followed by the proceeding by summoning the Treasury's secretary-general, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah and Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general, Datuk Seri Dr Rahmat Bivi Abdullah to give their statements.

PAC will call 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy and his predecessor Datuk Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi on May 26.

Shahrul had served as the CEO from March 2009 to March 2013.