Malaysia's Public Accounts Committee summons 2 of 1MDB's auditors

KUALA LUMPUR: Two of the three 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) auditors have been summoned by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to appear on June 10 and 17.

Deloitte and previous auditors KPMG and Ernst & Young are expected to provide information on the accounts of the controversial government-link investment arm.

"We sent out letters to the Finance Ministry on Monday to call Deloitte on June 10 and KPMG on June 17," said PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed yesterday.

He said that procedure required the PAC to give a minimum two weeks' notice via the supervising ministry, in this case the Finance Ministry, for witnesses to be called.

The committee, he said, planned to call all the three auditors and later the board.

"Once we get all the information, we can decide who to call next, and that may include the Prime Minister. However, we must follow the steps," he said in response to whether the PAC will be summoning Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his capacity as Finance Minister.

The audited accounts of 1MDB had raised a number of questions. The resignations of KPMG and Ernst & Young as auditors had compounded the intrigue over the state of accounts of the strategic investment company.

1MDB president and group execu­tive director Arul Kanda Kan­dasamy and its former CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi were called in to meet the PAC on Tues­day but both requested for an additional 30 days to prepare.

The committee allowed Arul and Shahrol the time requested but warned them against further delay or they may be cited for contempt. They are expected to face the PAC sometime in mid-June.

The bi-partisan PAC began its probe into 1MDB on May 19 when two senior government officials - Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah, also a 1MDB advisory board member and, Economic Planning Unit director-general Datuk Seri Dr Rahmat Bivi Abdulla - appeared before it.