Hitch in meeting with 1MDB bosses

KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had to postpone a meeting with the management of 1MDB as its CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former CEO Datuk Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi could not attend the hearing scheduled for today.
PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pix) said Arul and Shahrul’s reason to delay the hearing was that they will not be in the country on the scheduled date.
“PAC had received a letter on May 22 from the Ministry of Finance which stated the CEO’s unavailability to attend the hearing.”
“This does not mean that the proceeding would be delayed, I want both Arul and Shahrul to come and meet us as soon as possible,” Jazlan said at a press conference at Parliament building here.
Jazlan said there is no reason for 1MDB to skip the meeting as they are the government’s investment arm.
“We will give them time and I hope this postponement would give them more room to prepare for the probe.”
“We don’t want to speculate anything, they are working for the government. They won’t run away... I hope,” Jazlan said.
Jazlan said while waiting to meet Arul and Shahrul, PAC has decided to call the 1MDB auditors for a hearing.
“We will call international auditor Deloitte & Co first, then KPMG and lastly, Ernst & Young.”
“We will call them accordingly and a letter will be issued as soon as possible, to invite them for the hearing,” Jazlan said.
Since its establishment in 2009, 1MDB had reportedly accumulated some RM42 billion in debts.
1MDB was incorporated after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced the decision to turn the Terengganu Investment Authority state fund into a federal agency.
However, the funds had received negative perception over its debts.