DAP PJ Utara MP, Tony Pua has rightly castigated the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani for his indifference and lack of concern over Deloitte’s disavowal of its audited accounts for 1MDB for the years 2013 and 2014.
A week after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil action for forfeiture of over US$1billion 1MDB-linked assets out of US$3.5 billion misappropriated from 1MDB, Deloitte Malaysia said its audit of 1MDB in 2013 and 2014 would have been impacted if it had known at that time the information contained in the DOJ lawsuits to seize 1MDB-linked assets.
As such, Deloitte said that 1MDB’s 2013 and 2014 financial statements, which the auditing firm signed off on March 28, 2014 and Nov 5, 2014, “should no longer be relied upon”.
Johari’s statement on Monday that there was no impact on 1MDB for saying the 2013 and 2014 accounts that Deloitte edited should no longer be relied on is most irresponsible and shocking, and shows how little regard the Malaysian Government has for credibility, integrity, best corporate practices and good governance.
Even more serious, the Deloitte disavowal is a major blow to the Malaysian government stance to basically ignore the DOJ complaint and to adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude until the outcome of the DOJ suits, expecting it to take years!
Deloitte said that the information about the 1MDB multi-billion ringgit embezzlement, misappropriation, money-laundering and corruption contained in the DOJ complaint would have impacted on the Deloitte’s audited reports for 1MDB.
The same question must now be asked as to how the DOJ complaint and information would have impacted on the Auditor-General’s and the Public Accounts Committee Reports on 1MDB, and whether both the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee will re-open investigations into 1MDB, by seeking for the information stated in the DOJ complaint from the US authorities.
It is noteworthy that at end of the 136-page DOJ legal suits, there is a sworn “verification” by the Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Robert B. Heuchling “under penalty of perjury” that “I have read the foregoing Verified Complaint for Forfeiture In Rem and know the contents thereof, and that the matters contained in the Verified Complaint are true to the best of my knowledge and belief” and “The sources of my knowledge and information and the grounds of my belief are official files and records of the United States, publicly available files and historical information, information supplied to me by other law enforcement officers, experts and other witnesses, as well as my investigation in this case, together with others, as a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations”.
The Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee should re-open investigations into 1MDB and ask the US authorities for information relating to the 136-page DOJ complaint on the multi-billion dollar 1MDB global embezzlement, misappropriation, money-laundering and corruption which have far-reaching impact on their Reports on 1MDB.
