I had to shake my head in sheer disbelief with 1MDB boasted of its recent achievement in repaying RM950 million of its debt to the Government with proceeds from assets which were sold at a substantial loss.
Yesterday, 1MDB said its President, “Mr Arul Kanda has delivered major asset sales and repaid all short term debt/bank debt, with 1MDB now having RM2.3 billion cash in the bank. The company has also recently repaid the RM950 million standby credit facility from the Government of Malaysia. Even YB Tony has no choice but to admit this success, against all odds.”
I am left speechless that Mr Arul Kanda, a so-called top investment banker and debt-restructuring expert can shower himself with such hugely undeserved praise.
Perhaps, Mr Arul Kanda has forgotten that he has been forced to admit that the power plant assets which were acquired for RM12.1 billion was sold for a loss at RM9.83 billion. The proceeds was used to pay off RM950 million of the Federal Government’s emergency loan granted last year. However, US$3.5 billion (RM13.6 billion) worth of bonds which were raised to purchase these power plants remains outstanding!
So Mr Arul Kanda’s achievement was to dispose of overpriced power plants at a loss, and leave 1MDB with a gaping hole of US$3.5 billion of related-debts in 1MDB’s books, with no assets left to pay back.
I have “no choice” but to admit that I am flabbergasted by Arul Kanda’s definition of “success, against all odds”.
Arul Kanda was not involved in the 1MDB-IPIC-Aabar multi-billion dollar scam, but Arul Kanda has played an undeniable role in covering up the entire heinous scandal robbing the Malaysian tax-payers.
It appears now that Arul Kanda is already taking steps to clear himself of any wrongdoing in the light of the disclosure by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) that it does not own “Aabar Investment PJS Limited”, which was set up in the British Virgin Islands ‘Aabar (BVI)’.
1MDB in the same statement yesterday, said it is “wrong and unprofessional of YB Tony to personalise this issue by linking it to Mr. Arul Kanda. It is clear that each of these transfers happened before Mr. Arul Kanda assumed his role at 1MDB, therefore he can only rely on what the company records show, in formulating his answers.”
Indeed, no one is claiming that Arul Kanda signed the agreements and paid US$3.51 billion to the ficticious Aabar (BVI). But Arul Kanda was fully aware of the fake BVI, and hence had refused since the allegation arose last year to answer any questions on the status of Aabar (BVI).
Now that the Hansard of the Public Accounts Committee’s 1MDB proceedings have been made public, Malaysians can read for themselves how Arul Kanda twisted and turned to avoid directly answering the question as to who are the owners of Aabar (BVI).
On 18th of December 2015, I had asked Arul Kanda the pointed question – “Is it true the allegations that the payment was made to an Aabar Investments PJS Limited which was set up in perhaps BVI or Seychelles, which is unrelated to Aabar itself?” (see the relevant page of the Hansard attached)
Arul Kanda, in a magnificent series of somersaults in his attempt to squirm his way out of giving a straightforward answer to the question. First he went around the world blaming the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Sarawak Report and even leaks from the Auditor-General Report for a “clear campaign against 1MDB and the government, started on the 2nd of July… with the revelation of confidential banking transactions of the Prime Minister”.
When he was finally forced to concede that 1MDB had indeed made agreements and payments to Aabar (BVI), I asked whether “Aabar Investments PJS Limited related to Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi?”
The best answer he could give was “As far as we are aware, yes”. I then pointed out to him that “we made an agreement with them we should know whether they are or they are not, cannot be ‘as far as we are aware’.”
Again, he twisted and turned without address the underlying major concern that 1MDB has paid billions of dollars to a company, which 1MDB’s President and CEO was unable to confirm with any certainty that the companies are related.
This only goes to prove that Arul Kanda knew at all times of the entire scam and hid those information from the Auditor-General and the PAC, hoping that we will turn a blind eye on the matter.
It is now confirmed that 1MDB has lost at least US$3.5 billion (RM14 billion) since Aabar Investment PJS Limited was wound up in June 2015
The most damning evidence however of Arul Kanda knowing that 1MDB has paid billions of dollars to a fictitious Aabar (BVI) is the fact that Aabar (BVI) as disclosed by IPIC, based on public information, has already been wound up 10 months ago in June 2015!
How can Arul Kanda not know that the US$1.367 billion of “refundable security deposit”, US$993 million of “refundable options termination payment” and an additional US$1.15 billion of “top-up security deposit” have been paid to a company which have already ceased to exist!
In fact, all the 1MDB agreements signed with Aabar (BVI) as disclosed by the Auditor-General and the PAC, are now completely void.
The announcement made by IPIC on the London Stock Exchange has confirmed without a doubt that not only is the US$3.51 billion above unaccounted for, the money is definitely “missing”, as we have suspected all these while.
The question now is why did Arul Kanda hide these information from Malaysians and failed to institute actions against the relevant parties in the obscene scam, including 1MDB officials involved, the fake Aabar (BVI) and its officers, since Arul’s appointment was in January 2015, 6 months before Aabar (BVI) was liquidated. If he hid these crucial information, then he must be investigated for being an accessory to the entire scam.