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1MDB to Dr M: You're wrong, wrong and wrong
Published:  Jun 16, 2015 11:48 AM
Updated: 11:19 AM

1MDB today took apart Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticism of the company, claiming the former prime minister made a slew of mistakes in his facts and figures.

For example, it said the initial RM5 billion loan raised for 1MDB in 2009 was done by Ambank and not by Goldman Sachs as claimed by Mahathir in his blog posting last Friday titled "The 1MDB story".

"The entire premise of this statement is incorrect as the sukuk was arranged by AmBank, not Goldman Sachs.

 

"AmBank fully underwrote the sukuk issuance (it took the risk to provide RM5 billion to 1MDB) and, therefore, earned any commission it received for doing so," 1MDB added in a statement today.

The bonds arranged by Goldman Sachs came in 2012, which were meant to help 1MDB acquire its power assets.

Goldman Sach's role was controversial as it charged 1MDB a whopping 10 percent commission.

On another matter, 1MDB said Mahathir's estimation that the company paid almost RM3 billion in interest for its RM41.8 billion loan was wrong.

"The figures being quoted by Mahathir are incorrect.

"To be clear; the interest cost on RM42 billion of debt by 1MDB as of March 31, 2014 was RM2.4 billion, a significant 20 percent less than what Mahathir claims," it said.

Wrong on land deal as well

Furthermore, the Finance Ministry-owned company said, Mahathir's figure for 1MDB's purchase of the Tun Razak Exchange land from the government was also incorrect.

"In reference to the figures quoted by Mahathir, he is again incorrect.

"The fact is that 1MDB paid RM230 million, not RM320 million, to acquire this parcel of land," it said.

It also deflected criticism that the government was "cheated" by selling the prime land cheaply to 1MDB.

 

"It is important to note that 1MDB is ultimately 100 percent owned by the government of Malaysia.

 

"Accordingly, any transfer of land to 1MDB and any subsequent benefit in land value increase is ultimately 100 percent for the government of Malaysia," it said

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