Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is seeking to recoup US$4.5 billion ($6.1 billion) of funds potentially lost through 1MDB as he seeks to uncover the extent of wrongdoing at the state investment firm, whose full name is 1Malaysia Development Bhd. A week after sweeping into power, he ordered the auditor-general to publicly release a report that was protected by the Official Secrets Act since 2016, and revived an investigation that has led to former premier Najib Razak and his wife being questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
(June 26): 1MDB’s auditor KPMG told the company not to rely on its reports over three years as they don’t show “true and fair” assessment of the troubled state fund’s finances.
KPMG retracted the audit reports for financial years ended March 2010, 2011 and 2012, as it didn’t have access to relevant documents that Malaysia’s new government has since declassified, 1MDB said in a statement Tuesday. The withheld information would have “materially impacted” the assessments had it been made available to the auditor, KPMG said in a June 8 letter to the fund.
