Despite concerns that 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) massive debt will have adverse effects on the economy, the National Audit Department has not set a deadline for its audit of the beleaguered government-owned company.

Auditor-general Ambrin Buang,  however, assured that he acknowledges the urgency of the matter.

"I agree (that it is urgent) and that is why I said we are giving priority to this," he told a press conference at the National Audit Department's headquarters in Putrajaya today.

Explaining his refusal to set a deadline, Ambrin ( left ) said the audit cannot be rushed to ensure it is properly conducted.

"When you talk about time, we have to balance between speed with accuracy, we cannot rush.

"We are concerned about the quality of our work," he said.

 
He said the audit has already commenced and assured it will be conducted "independently and professionally".
 
Ambrin added he has also met 1MDB president and group chief executive officer Arul Kanda.
 
He was coy about the term of reference of the audit, saying that it will be as stated in the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's March 4 statement on 1MDB.
 
When pointed out that Najib's statement merely instructed the auditor-general to "independently verify 1MDB's accounts", Ambrin replied:"You are probing too much, we only just started, let us do our work".
 
 He said the audit department had received a "very broad mandate".
 
"When you talk about assets, liability, equity and all that... any matter related to assets and liabilities, we have to study and look into".
 
Ask if corporate management issues will be looked into, he replied in the positive.
 
Last Wednesday, Najib instructed 1MDB, which has over RM40 billion in debts, to be audited following a series of controversies about its business dealings.