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Will 1MDB auditor get boot, again, muses MP
Published:  Oct 4, 2015 12:36 PM
Updated: 1:16 PM

With scandal-ridden 1MDB having its annual audit delayed for the sixth time, DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua asked if its present auditors will be dropped as what has happened in the past.

“This is the sixth consecutive year since 1MDB was incepted in 2009 where the company failed to submit its accounts on a timely basis.

“In the past, the audited accounts were delayed often because of various financial shenanigans which needed to be covered up,” alleged the member of the now stalled parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC).

Casting doubt on the circumstances that had led to the previous years’ delays and the subsequent dropping of the auditors involved, Pua asked if the same fate will befall Deloitte Malaysia.

“The question that comes to mind is whether Deloitte will become the next audit firm on the chopping block so that a new firm can be subsequently appointed to sign off the books.

“Will history repeat itself for the third time in six years, and 1MDB enter the record books as the GLC which has changed the most number of auditors within the shortest possible time?” asked Pua in a statement today.

'Perpetual delays?'

Pua yesterday rubbished 1MDB's claim that it had to delay its audit because its documents had been confiscated by investigators into the sovereign fund's scandal, calling it a delay strategy.

“The most telling indicator if Deloitte will be replaced is whether the firm has even been allowed to commence its audit, and whether 1MDB has provided its management accounts and trial balance to the auditors.

“We know for a fact that as at June 2015, the then PAC chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed had disclosed that 1MDB has not granted permission to Deloitte to commence its audit exercise.

“We also know that 1MDB has refused to answer questions which I have raised with regards to the above,” said Pua.

He said this fuels further the people’s suspicions that 1MDB is “perpetually delaying the completion of 1MDB’s books” allegedly in order to cover up irregularities that have scandalised the Finance Ministry investment fund.

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