What’s a smart man like Arul doing in 1MDB?

He seems to have placed himself in the path of a freight train hurtling towards a crash.

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Arul Kanda Kandasamy is an enigma if there ever was one. He came into the Malaysian public’s notice when he stepped in to take the reins of the beleaguered and embattled 1MDB last January. Previously, he was Executive Vice-President and Head of Investment Banking at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

Arul is perhaps one of the youngest individuals to be entrusted with a government-linked company and is certainly a rare case of a non-Malay being entrusted with the leadership of such a company. But then, he may also be one who has bitten off more than he can chew.

Labelled a liar by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, castigated at alarming regularity by the opposition, and viewed with suspicion by the rakyat of Malaysia, Arul is shouldering a tremendous burden. No one does that for free, however. Hence, the speculation that Arul came in at first to oversee Arab investments in 1MDB without having to directly intervene with the ailing sovereign wealth fund. But there’s some talk of late that has changed the story about who is truly backing him. But we shall not indulge in too much gossip.

Arul certainly is highly intelligent. The man holds a Masters degree with honours in Corporate and Commercial Law from University College in London. He propelled himself up the ranks at several banks and has assumed the leadership of 1MDB at the age of 38. Even earlier in life, as a cadet at the prestigious Royal Military College, Arul shone brightly, winning a prestigious award from Guinness for his accomplishments at the 1990 Plain English Speaking Award held in Melbourne, Australia.

However, he has now placed himself in the path of a freight train hurtling towards a crash. And with Mahathir’s hawk eyes watching 1MDB’s every move, even the brightest could not get away unscathed.

Still, Arul remains a mystery. There is precious little information on him readily available online, and the man himself seems notoriously hard to get hold of. Even his interactions with the media rarely go beyond the occasional press conference. Even his press releases are notoriously brief, and sometimes even cryptic.

Doubtless, being the smart man that he is, he cannot be blind to the fact that his ship is sinking. So the question now really is, “What next for the man known as Arul Kanda and those he represents?”