If billions of dollars are not "missing" as alleged, then why did 1MDB refuse to present its bank statements to the AG and PAC?

The  damning  Public  Accounts  Committee  (PAC)  Report  on  1Malaysia  Development  Bhd (1MDB) was tabled in Parliament yesterday.

Among the lengthy list of transgressions by 1MDB, the PAC established that:

The  sums of  US$700  million  and  US$330  million  have  been  misappropriated  to Good Star Limited, a company unrelated to the purported 1MDB-Petrosaudi joint venture in 2009 and 2011. (7.3.4-7.3.5)

US$3.51  billion  has  been  paid  to  a  British  Virgin  Islands  (BVI)  incorporated  Aabar Investment  PJS  Limited “Aabar  (BVI)”  in  the  form  of  collaterals,  options  termination compensation  and  further  unexplained “top-up  security”  payments despite obvious doubts over who owns Aabar (BVI).

The  Auditor-General  (AG)  was  also  unable  to  verify  the  actual  transactions  above  because 1MDB has refused to provide the bank statements of its overseas bank accounts and foreign subsidiaries. (7.3.9 – 7.3.13)

As  a  result  of  1MDB’s  refusal  to  cooperate,  the  AG  was  also  unable  to  ascertain  the purported existence and value of the so-called US$940 million worth of “units” parked at the Swiss Bank branch of BSI Bank in Singapore. (7.3.15)

Instead  of  answering  the  respective  findings  of  the  Report,  1Malaysia  Development  Bhd (1MDB)  thought  it  more  appropriate  to  train  its  guns  on  the  Wall  Street  Journal  (WSJ). 1MDB claimed that it was entirely inaccurate of WSJ to claim in its article that the PAC had found that “billions  of  dollars”  had  gone  missing  from  1MDB,  and  had  recommended  a “criminal investigation” on the fund’s senior management.

Why is 1MDB so ruffled with the claim by WSJ that “billions of dollars” were “found missing” based on the PAC Report?

Indeed, the PAC Report never made the specific claim that the above billions were “missing” officially. However, the fact of the matter is these billions are unaccounted for and cannot be verified, as confirmed by the AG himself.

Hence,  if  1MDB  is  so  offended  by  the  missing  billions  description  by  WSJ,  why  didn’t  the company  show  where  these  monies  were  with  its  bank  statements  and  their  respective transaction details to the AG since May 2015?

In  fact, 1MDB’s  recalcitrance  and  utter  contempt  for  the  Auditor-General  over  the  above, despite  countless  reminders  by  the  AG  and  the  PAC,  only  goes  to  reinforce  the  global suspicions that the billions of dollars have indeed gone missing.

The refusal by 1MDB and its management to cooperate over the above unaccounted billions of dollars  left  the  PAC  with  no  choice  but  to  recommend  investigations  by  the  relevant
authorities.  These “relevant authorities” would certainly include the Royal Malaysia Police to track possible criminal elements in the flow of funds by 1MDB overseas.

1MDB  should  stop  trying  to  play  the  victim  of  a  non-existent global  malicious  conspiracy against the company. 1MDB has had every opportunity to clear its name over the past year and has now been proven to have failed to do so.

The  real  victims  are  the  Malaysian  people  whose  trust  in 1MDB,  its  management  and directors, have been betrayed by half-truths, lies, deceit and cover-ups.