Arul Kanda wants lawful authorities to decide whether he lied

The 1MDB Chief will remain a professional in his conduct and backs the PM’s statement on dealing with any wrongdoing at the company.

KUALA LUMPUR: 1MDB President and Group Executive Director Arul Kanda Kandasamy has clarified that he came to the company earlier this year to initially conduct a strategic review of the company, and was now leading the implementation of a rationalization plan for the business, as presented to the Cabinet on 29 May 2015.

The 1MDB team, he added, was fully committed in its efforts to implement the rationalization plan presented to the Cabinet. “This plan will substantially reduce the company’s debt levels, and was well underway, as proven by the repayment of an RM 3.6 billion loan as announced on Monday 8 June.”

“I wish to make clear that my role at 1MDB has been and will continue to be as a professional,” he said in reference to a blog posting on him and the company on Tuesday by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He reiterated that he will continue to conduct his duties in a professional manner, and furnish all information to assist the lawful authorities to verify the truth about 1MDB.

As a professional, he stressed, he was fully accountable for his actions and was answerable to the 1MDB Board, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the shareholder. In the current context, he continued, this also includes the Auditor- General (A-G), Bank Negara and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), other stakeholders.

“These are the lawful authorities to verify whether or not I have ever lied, as has been claimed,” he said. “They have access to all the information.”

The 1MDB Chief referred to various other questions posed by Mahathir and various commentators, and pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had pledged, “a full accounting of the facts by lawful authorities is needed so that there can be no misinterpretation or spin”.

In this context, he stressed, Najib has affirmed that “if any wrongdoing was proven, the law should be enforced without exception”.

‘This is a position I fully support, both in relation to my own conduct to date and that of 1MDB generally.”

“Mahathir stated in his blog that a Parliamentary response submitted by the Ministry of Finance was subsequently amended,” he noted.

This has been previously acknowledged by the MoF, he conceded, and “occurred due to confusion around some information provided by 1MDB”.

As the President of the company, he pledged that he takes full responsibility for this misunderstanding, “and will ensure better communication with all stakeholders”.

Furthermore, he said, as clarified by the MoF, appropriate steps have already been implemented to prevent this (confusion) happening again in the future.

Separately, he lamented, that Mahathir previously claimed that RM42 billion was missing. Now, he said, after 1MDB provided a summary of how the RM42 billion was spent — based on past audited financial statements — he stated in his blog post that “where a chunk of the 42 billion ringgit went was questionable.”

“This continuous shift in numbers and allegations was perplexing,” said Arul Kanda.