The Finance Ministry has corrected its parliamentary written reply in March that said the US$1.1 billion (RM3.97 billion) transferred by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from Cayman Islands to Singapore was in cash.

According to the latest written reply to Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, the Finance Ministry said the money that was "redeemed" was in the form of assets in US dollars.

The bank, that was not named by the ministry, would then serve as the custodian of the asset for 1MDB.

"In relation to the written reply to you on March 10, 2015, the answer should be amended to what is written above," states the latest reply to Pua ( photo ), dated May 19.

Pua had questioned if Bank Negara had received information from Singaporean authorities on irregularities in 1MDB's accounts or its subsidiaries, and whether 1MDB was still keeping US$1.1 billion in cash in BSI Singapore.

Putrajaya must explain the contradiction

The previous written reply to Pua on March 3 stated that 1MDB had redeemed its balance of investment from the Cayman Islands in " cash " and transferred it to BSI Singapore.

"The decision to use a bank in Singapore was to facilitate easier withdrawals in view of Bank Negara rules which require its approval for transactions over RM50 million," the ministry said at the time.

The ministry is 100 percent owner of 1MDB.

Speaking to reporters later, Pua and Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli ( photo ) said Putrajaya must explain this contradiction.

"According to the reply dated yesterday, it has shown 1MDB only has paper assets in the bank. It is now clear that 1MDB has no cash in the bank.

"We were led to believe that 1MDB has a lot of cash, which it can't bring back home," Pua said, adding that 1MDB has not been honest about its financial situation.

The DAP publicity secretary said 1MDB's paper assets can be turned into cash to service its loan.

In the worst case scenario, Pua said he suspected that the paper assets may not be worth US$1.1 billion as claimed by the government.

That explains why the company resorted to borrowing from the government to repay the loans, he added.

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