1MDB has yet to furnish certain documents requested by the auditor-general for its investigation, said Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He revealed that the documents include some of the company's bank statements and agreements.

"The National Audit Department is still not getting good cooperation from 1MDB in obtaining documents for them to conduct the audit.

"We urge the 1MDB management to cooperate with the department by giving it all the documentation and information it requested, so they can continue their audit and conclude the report by the end of the year," he told a press conference today.

He was speaking to reporters during a break in today’s PAC meeting, where auditor-general Ambrin Buang presented his department’s preliminary findings in its audit of 1MDB's accounts.

The session has finished for the day at 4pm and will continue tomorrow morning.

 

Speaking to reporters later, Ambrin ( photo )  declined to comment on whether or not he is happy with the extent of cooperation extended by 1MDB and the nature of the documents that he is still waiting for.

 

Instead, he repeatedly stressed that he has obtained some documents and is still waiting for others, and that the audit is still ongoing.

 

If the National Audit Department is unable to obtain the documents, he explained, it would try to look for the information from other sources and state in its report that it was unable to obtain the documents from 1MDB.

 

He also expressed confidence that he would be able to table the final audit report without some documents not being given.

Meanwhile, in a press statement made later, 1MDB group executive director Arul Kanda said that all documents in the company’s possession had been submitted to the National Audit Department.

“As the interim report has not yet been shared with 1MDB, we are unable to comment on the PAC chairperson’s statement that certain documents appear to have not been submitted.

“As requested by the PAC chairperson, we will immediately contact the National Audit Department to seek clarity on which documents the PAC chairperson is referring to,” he said.

Gaps plugged

Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said the auditor-general had done a commendable job in preparing his interim report, and had helped plugged gaps in the PAC’s understanding of the 1MDB issue.

The only shortcoming, he said, are the documents that are not provided to the auditor-general.

“They (1MDB) gave some documents, but the documents - as we understand it - were given late; they were (given) only in the first week of June.

“But many of the other documents that the auditor-general requested for were not provided, even simple things like bank statement. I think that is crucial for any investigation,” he said when met outside the room where PAC was meeting.

Pua ( photo ), who is also a PAC member and a vocal critic of 1MDB, added that there is no reason why the auditor-general should not have received the documents, since it only takes about five minutes to print a bank statement.

To a question whether this means 1MDB’s repeated assurances that it would cooperate with investigations was a lie, Pua curtly replied, “It looks like it.”

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