From Maylasian Insider

DAP has questioned the delay in repatriating 1Malaysia Development Board’s (1MDB) RM4 billion in the Cayman Islands, which Putrajaya and the strategic development firm had pledged to bring back last year.

The opposition party’s national publicity secretary, Tony Pua, said the delay in getting the fund back not only raised concerns about 1MDB but also threatened Malaysia’s financial stability.

“The question hence arises as to why the RM4 billion funds from the Cayman Islands which was supposed to be ‘returned’ in November 2014, hasn’t been repatriated to assist in alleviating 1MDB’s debt crunch?” he said in reference to the company’s some RM40 billion debt.

Pua said deputy finance minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan was quick to dismiss critics questioning the existence of the Caymans fund when he promised Parliament that it would be fully returned to 1MDB by the end of 2014.

“However, as of today, a week into the month of January 2015, there has been no trace of these funds returning to Malaysia or to 1MDB,” he said.

The company’s financial statements for the year ending March 2014 which was filed in October 2014 disclosed that the RM4 billion fund will be received in full before the end of November last year.

But, 1MDB’s chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin last month said 1MDB only “expects to redeem the remaining amount in the coming months.”

Pua said that was contrary to what was stated in the financial report, adding that there was no trace of the money returning to Malaysia or to 1MDB.

“Perhaps the funds in the Cayman Islands are tied up in ‘investments’ of highly questionable value, which if disposed today will result in massive unbearable losses to 1MDB?”

He said the firm missed two repayment deadlines for a RM2 billion debt in November and December last year, which was part of a rescheduled and restructured debt it couldn’t pay in November 2013.

On Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Pua said his “deafening” silence, and the appointment of high-flying banker Arul Kanda as president and group executive director would not move “the elephant in the room”.

Najib is also 1MDB’s advisory board chairman.

“It demolishes any confidence the investment and financial community has in his administration,” Pua said.

He said 1MDB’s failure to repay the RM2 billion loan will severely affect the financial health of two of the country’s largest banks – Maybank and RHB Bank – who were the firm’s biggest lenders.

He added that a default would be “catastrophic” to Putrajaya, the entire financial system and taxpayers.

Lodin last month said repatriating the funds back to Malaysia would have exposed the money to fluctuations on the foreign exchange market.

This followed the decline of ringgit in the past 10 months against the US dollar.

An estimated RM18 billion of 1MDB’s money is parked in the Caymans.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hit out at the firm, noting that a large part of the money raised from the issuing of debt paper by 1MDB was sent to the Caymans – a move which many, including the opposition, also questioned.

Lodin said there was nothing unusual about companies of 1MDB’s size investing their funds in the Caymans, adding that it was one of the largest registered fund jurisdictions internationally.

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority is recognised as one of the leading financial regulators in the world.

The Edge Financial Daily reported last year that the depreciating ringgit would hurt 1MDB, which had a sizeable chunk of its total RM42 billion in debtsin the US dollar denomination.

This chunk – which amounted to RM22.25 billion according to 1MDB’s financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2014 – has grown to about RM25.7 billion, an increase of about RM3.96 billion, due to the ringgit’s decline by some 6.5% in 2014. – January 7, 2015.

IMAGE: DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said 1Malaysia Development Board’s delay in repatriating its RM4 billion Caymans fund could potentially harm Malaysia’s financial stability. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 7, 2015.

For more on this story go to: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/where-is-rm4-bil-cayman-island-fund-dap-asks-1mdb#sthash.NGRiOltF.dpuf

See also iNews Cayman related story published January 5 2015 “1MDB CEO resigns, banker Arul Kanda takes over” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/1mdb-ceo-resigns-banker-arul-kanda-takes-over/