Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
7th May 2017

Property failure and Abu Dhabi deal leave taxpayer on the hook, says MP

In an ebullient New Year’s message, Najib Razak declared that 1MDB’s “major challenges” were behind it. But critics of the Malaysian prime minister have seized on two apparent reversals as evidence that efforts to clear the scandal-hit Malaysian state investment fund’s debts are in disarray.

A crucial part of Mr Najib’s claim was a $1.7bn deal to sell a stake in a Kuala Lumpur property project to a China-backed consortium. That deal has now collapsed, with questions raised about China’s role in vetoing the agreement.

Meanwhile, 1MDB made an agreement earlier this month to pay Ipic, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, $1.2bn to settle an embarrassing dispute in which Ipic was claiming about $6.5bn.

The Malaysian fund is at the centre of multiple global investigations into alleged grand corruption. Swiss investigators allege that up to $4.8bn was diverted from companies linked to 1MDB,which was set up by the Malaysian premier.

“With the latest collapse of the proposed [property project] sale, the entire ‘rationalisation’ exercise . . . hailed by the prime minister and cabinet has been completely unravelled,” said Tony Pua, an MP with the Democratic Action party, Malaysia’s main opposition group. Read the rest of this entry »

Shannon Teoh
Straits Times
8th May 2017

The chief of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Mr Arul Kanda, was last Tuesday personally overseeing the dry run for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s site visit the next day to the Bandar Malaysia development.

Over a year ago, Mr Arul brokered the deal to sell 60 per cent of the upcoming township by 1MDB for RM7.4 billion (S$2.4 billion), one of the main planks of the plan to retire the state firm’s whopping US$11 billion (S$15.5 billion) debt.

But the lavish party to be attended by Datuk Seri Najib and the top brass of the Malaysia-China consortium that bought the stake didn’t happen, as the deal was aborted last Wednesday.

More worryingly for the Malaysian government, another key plank to bury 1MDB’s controversial dealings – a settlement with an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund over a US$6.5 billion claim – still needs a great deal of work.

The past fortnight was supposed to help draw a line under 1MDB’s controversial dealings. It turned out to be two weeks of unfulfilled hopes. Read the rest of this entry »