By Shane Fuentes

The MP worries the company may have lost these funds and this was why taxpayers have been forced to bail it out.

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has warned that 1MDB Chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s excuse of “miscommunication” was completely hollow as the rakyat were still left clueless as to whether the so-called USD1.103 billion (RM4.4 billion) assets previously held in the Cayman Islands fund was worth anything at all today. “Did 1MDB lose practically all of its USD1.103 billion?”

“The fact that 1MDB refuses to address these crucial questions will only convince the people that the company has lost all of these funds and this was why the taxpayers have been forced to bail out the company.”

And yet, said Pua who is also DAP National Publicity Secretary, 1MDB has the cheek to claim that he had “conveniently” forgotten the replies provided by the Finance Ministry to Parliament. “I certainly have not forgotten the parliamentary replies prepared by 1MDB, which contained no answers to the questions posed.”

If the questions have been answered, he stressed, there would have been no need for him to ask again, nor will there be any need for 1MDB to deploy evasive manoeuvres to avoid answering questions.

Even former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin lamented that it was taking way too long for the 1MDB investigations, reminded Pua. “Must we wait until the moon falls onto our laps?” Pua quoted Muhyiddin as asking.

Pua was commenting on a 1MDB statement on Sunday to rebut his request for an explanation on the USD1.103 billion redeemed from Cayman Islands in January 2015. “1MDB said that Arul Kanda ‘has on June 10 already taken full responsibility for any past miscommunications on the matter’.”

Right-thinking Malaysians will surely agree with him, said Pua, that dismissing a horrendous error as “miscommunication” does not at all absolve Arul Kanda from providing the right answers. “It is not enough for Arul Kanda to apologise for incredulously mistaking ‘units’ for ‘cash’.”

“The 1MDB Chief must explain what exactly are ‘units’ and how much are they worth according to the Bank.”

Firstly, reiterated Pua, Arul Kanda had claimed that the redeemed investment was in “cash” which was subsequently found out to be untrue as they were in “assets”. “Secondly, it was later revised to be in ‘units’, which means that no real ‘redemption’ took place in January as announced by 1MDB.”

Arul Kanda must explain what exactly are these mysterious “units” parked in BSI Bank Singapore, continued Pua. “Are they backed by listed or private company shares, or by properties or other assets? More importantly, what is the bank-assessed valuation of these so called ‘units’?”

Pua, taking every statement from 1MDB as another opportunity to rebut the company, vowed that he will be the proverbial monkey who will not get off 1MDB’s back as long as it refuses to be truthful and answer simple questions like the bank-assessed worth of these “units” in Singapore.

“1MDB may continue to accuse me of making ‘recycled allegations’,” noted Pua. “But I will continue to press and question as long as 1MDB continues to give “recycled non-answers”.

The “recycled answers”, he added, are the reason why the many issues surrounding the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal must continue to be raised in the public sphere. “All other attempts to extract the truth have been practically stopped in their tracks.”

“1MDB even accused me of attempting to undermine the various on-going investigations through the ‘chicken challenge’ of asking Arul Kanda for a dialogue or debate.”

Firstly, said Pua, he wants to remind 1MDB that it was Arul Kanda himself who made the offer to dialogue, which he subsequently refused to honour.

Secondly and more importantly, he asked, how could he possibly undermine any investigations into 1MDB where there’s hardly anyone left investigating the company?

“The Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) has been crippled. The Special Task Force investigating 1MDB and the Prime Minister has been declared ‘illegal’ by Abdul Rahman Dahlan. The Attorney-General has been sacked while the Auditor-General reports directly to the Finance Minister, who also happens to be Prime Minister and main suspect Najib Abdul Razak,” pointed out Pua.

For more on this story go to: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/17/pua-1mdbs-usd1-1b-lost-in-cayman-islands/

Related stories:

Pua reiterates Arul Kanda face him in Open Debate

By Shane Fuentes From FMT News

The people have had enough of 1MDB’s lies, half-truths and evasive answers.
arul tony pua

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has stressed in a statement that Arul Kanda Kandasamy, as the President of 1MDB, a wholly-owned Ministry of Finance subsidiary laden with more than RM42 billion in debt, must be held accountable to the taxpayers.
If his 48 “open book” media statements are not trustworthy, added Pua who is also DAP National Publicity Secretary, then the next best “open book” measure was for him to hold a public dialogue or debate with his critics.
“I am ever prepared to accept a dialogue offer from Arul Kanda made in January at any time and place,” said Pua. “I will not chicken out at the last minute claiming insufficient notice or other prior engagements.”
“I am also 100 per cent certain that thousands of Malaysians will want to watch the dialogue or debate ‘live’ as they have had enough of 1MDB’s lies, half-truths and evasive answers.”
For starters, said Pua, Arul Kanda must explain the mystery of the missing USD1.1 billion of “redeemed” Cayman Islands investment that Arul Kanda had lied about and misled Malaysians from the very beginning. “He not only lied about the fact that the proceeds from the redemption are in the form of cash, he lied to Malaysians about the fact that the Cayman Islands ‘fund’ was redeemed in the first place.”
“There was never any real ‘redemption’ because the investment was in ‘units’ form before the 13 January 2015 redemption, and they are still in ‘units’ form today.”
This proves that the whole so called investment in Cayman Islands since 2012 was a scam to hide the true worth of funds and assets remaining in 1MDB, charged Pua. “It also proved that Arul Kanda’s media statements, despite having issued 48 of them on behalf of 1MDB, cannot be trusted by any measure.”
Pua reminded that after a series of exposes by the Sarawak Report which pointed to an absence of actual “cash” in the BSI Bank account in Singapore, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, also Minister of Finance, was forced to correct his parliamentary response on 19 May 2015.
“Arul Kanda had lied to the world about the fact that there was USD1.1 billion of ‘cash’ sitting in the branch of the Swiss Bank in Singapore, when it was merely so-called ‘assets’, a fact which the 1MDB Chief himself claimed was a laughable ‘misunderstanding’, “ said Pua.
However, said Pua, the mystery deepened when the Second Finance Minister Husni Hanadzlah fine-tuned the May parliamentary reply further in his press statements, claiming that what was held in BSI Bank were “units”, when he was asked to clarify on the exact nature of these “assets” in Singapore. “Nobody in the world knows exactly what these alleged ‘units’ were except perhaps for Arul Kanda himself.”
“Even Husni Hanadzlah was at a loss when asked to explain what these ‘units’ were. ‘Units’ of investment are typically re-packaged assets sold by certain fund managers to investors using their own opaque measurement and valuation terms.”
However, if these assets in BSI Bank Singapore were still in “units” form, instead of being in raw assets like cash or shares or properties, continued Pua, it actually meant that the investment in Cayman Islands was never truly “redeemed”.
Under tremendous pressure from the Malaysian public back in December 2014, Pua recalled, Arul Kanda hastily announced via a media statement on 13 January 2015 that the balance of the USD1.103 billion had been “redeemed” but refused to disclose the nature of the proceeds and where the proceeds were deposited. “All Malaysians knew then was that despite an overdue RM2 billion debt 1MDB was to pay at the end of November 2014, 1MDB never brought the money back to Malaysia.”
It was only on 7 February 2015 that Arul Kanda revealed to The Business Times of Singapore that the proceeds were “cash” held outside Malaysia, said Pua. “Arul Kanda clearly stated that while the funds amounting to USD1.103 billion would not be repatriated back to Malaysia, it would be kept in US dollars “as we have USD6.5 billion (RM23.06 billion) in bonds out there, in which interest payments come up to nearly USD400 million (RM1.4 billion) a year.”
The 1MDB Chief specifically said, “the cash is in our accounts are in US dollars. I can assure you (about that)… I have seen the statements”, Pua quoted Arul Kanda as saying. “This alleged “cash” held outside Malaysia was confirmed by none other than the Prime Minister, himself in his parliamentary reply to me dated 10 March 2015.”

For more on this story go to: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/16/pua-reiterates-arul-kanda-face-him-in-open-debate/

Arul can’t slink away from US$1b Cayman poser

By Tony PuaFrom Malaysiakini

MP SPEAKS Scandal-tainted 1Malaysia Development Bhd issued a statement yesterday to rebut my request for an explanation on the US$1.103 billion redeemed from Cayman Islands in January 2015.

1MDB said that its president, Arul Kanda “has on June 10 already taken full responsibility for any past miscommunications on the matter.”

Right-thinking Malaysians will surely agree with me that dismissing such a horrendous error as “miscommunication” does not at all absolve Arul Kanda (photo) from providing us with the right answers.

First Arul Kanda had claimed that the redeemed investment was in “cash” which was subsequently found out to be untrue as they were in “assets”. Secondly, it was later revised to be in “units”, which means that no real “redemption” took place in January as announced by 1MDB.

Hence Arul Kanda must explain what exactly are these mysterious “units” parked in BSI Bank Singapore. Are they backed by listed or private company shares, or by properties or other assets? More importantly, what is the bank-assessed valuation of these so called “units”?

Show us the money

Without answering the above key questions, the 1MDB president’s excuse of “miscommunication” is completely hollow as the rakyat are still left clueless as to whether this so called “US$1.103 billion” asset previously held in the Cayman Islands fund is worth anything at all today.

Did 1MDB lose practically all of its US$1.103 billion?

The fact that 1MDB refuses to address these crucial questions will only convince the people that 1MDB has lost all of these funds and is one of the key causes why the tax-payers have been forced to bailout the company.

And yet, 1MDB has the cheek to claim that I have “conveniently” forgotten the replies provided by the Finance Ministry to the Parliament. I certainly have not forgotten the parliamentary replies prepared by 1MDB, which contained no answers to the questions posed, like the one above.

If the questions have been answered, there would have been no need for me to ask again, nor will there be any need for 1MDB to deploy evasive manoeuvres to avoid answering these questions.

1MDB even accused me of attempting to undermine the various on-going investigations through his “chicken challenge” of asking Arul Kanda for a dialogue or debate.

‘Recycled non-answers’

Firstly, let me remind 1MDB that it was Arul himself who made the offer to dialogue, which he subsequently refused to honour.

Secondly and more importantly, how could I possibly undermine any investigations into 1MDB where there is hardly anyone left investigating the company? The Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) has been crippled. The Special Task Force investigating 1MDB and the Prime Minister has been declared “illegal” by Abdul Rahman Dahlan. The attorney-general has been sacked while the auditor-general reports directly to the Finance Minister, who also happens to be Najib Abdul Razak.

Even former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin lamented that it’s taking way too long for the 1MDB investigations. “Must we wait until the moon falls onto our laps?” he asked.

Hence the reason why the many issues surrounding the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal must continue to be raised in the public sphere is exactly because all other attempts to extract the truth have been practically stopped on their tracks.

1MDB may continue to accuse me of making “recycled allegations”. But I will continue to press and questions as long as 1MDB continues to give “recycled non-answers”.

As such, I will be the proverbial monkey who will not get off 1MDB’s back as long as the state-owned company refuses to be truthful and answer simple questions like the bank-assessed worth of these “units” in Singapore.

TONY PUA is DAP national publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

For more on this story go to: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/308819

Related iNews Cayman stories and links:

Published August 13 2015 “No more democracy, claims Dr M [1MDB scandal]” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/no-more-democracy-claims-dr-m-1mdb-scandal/

Published August 5 2015 “How US$700M from 1MDB to PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Ltd became “Dirty” Criminal Money” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/how-us700m-from-1mdb-to-petrosaudi-holdings-cayman-ltd-became-dirty-criminal-money/