It would be an "absolute disaster" for Khazanah Nasional Bhd if Arul Kanda Kandasamy were to succeed Azman Mokhtar as managing director, claimed Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

Commenting on a Singapore Straits Times article which named four possible candidates for Azman's replacement, Pua said Arul Kanda's track record had been tainted during his helm of 1MDB.

Despite the "rationalisation plan", there does not appear to be an end to the 1MDB saga as it still owes billions in debts and Bandar Malaysia is still not sold.  

"The fact that Arul Kanda was sacked by the Finance Ministry from Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd practically says it all," Pua said. 

The MP also accused Arul Kanda of indulging in "creative accounting" when he claimed that the loss-making sale of 1MDB's power assets to China was a "near break even" deal. 

"Only a half-baked CEO would say that his company made money off dividends without accounting for the interest bill," argued Pua (photo).

He urged Malaysians to protest against any attempts to appoint a "proven incompetent" person to head Khazanah.

"If 1MDB, with debts up to RM50 billion at its peak, could be brought to ruins, what more could happen at the RM145 billion Khazanah Nasional," he said.

Azman has been the head of Khazanah since 2004 and his contract will expire in mid-2018.

According to Straits Times, possible replacements are Khazanah executive directors Hisham Hamdan and Ahmad Zulkarnain Onn, along with Arul Kanda and CIMB Bank CEO Tengku Zafrul Aziz.

Citing sources, the report claimed that there are attempts to lobby Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to appoint either Arul Kanda or Tengku Zafrul as the new Khazanah boss.