All this new information about the 1MDB scandal is just getting more and more crazy!
According to a Reuters exclusive, it was reported that the sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad paid the old Barisan Nasional (BN) government a large sum of money to help pay for some of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) liabilities.
In mid-2017, Khazanah reportedly gave the government RM1.2 billion to help pay for 1MDB’s dues to Abu Dhabi fund IPIC. In exchange for the money, Khazanah was in turn, provided with redeemable shares owned by the Ministry of Finance.
Source: The Star
In response to this information, the sovereign wealth fund told the news source in an e-mail that “the ministry of finance exercised its right in August 2017 to redeem outstanding Redeemable Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares amounting to 1.2 billion ringgit, which were issued to the ministry in 2011.”
However, they did not give any comment on claims that the funds were used to pay for 1MDB’s dues.
Meanwhile, it was also reported by the Wall Street Journal that 1MDB had also paid USD$500 million (approx RM1.9 billion) to IPIC PJSC in December 2017. The money reportedly came from a land deal involving Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
Source: Bank Negara Malaysia
At the same time, the Ministry of Finance, headed by Lim Guan Eng, is doing their best to investigate just how much the cost of this financial scandal carries for Malaysian tax-payers.
Either way, we hope our new government thoroughly investigates this scandal, and hope that whatever suspected misappropriated funds found can be dealt with accordingly.
Also read: Guan Eng: 1MDB’s CEO Unaware of RM9.8 Bil Investments, PwC to Audit Company
