1MDB not hitting panic button yet despite US$3.5bil in limbo

At the end of last year, 1MDB completed a US$1.2 billion payment to Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) as part of a settlement, despite both unable to agree on the status of a separate US$3.5 billion 1MDB claimed it paid to a subsidiary of IPIC.

IPIC had denied that British Virgin Islands-registered Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI), which 1MDB paid the US$3.5 billion to, was its subsidiary. Aabar BVI carried a similar name to Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar), which was a legitimate subsidiary of IPIC.

1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy, in a statement dated April 26, 2016, said the company could be a “victim of fraud".

Two years after 1MDB conceded to this, Malaysiakini asked Arul Kanda if the company has established if there were indeed grounds for such a claim.

Arul Kanda, however, took pains to stress that the onus lies with investigators, not 1MDB.

"I don't know if there is fraud in the first place. I think your question is fundamentally flawed because the statement of fraud came from the Swiss or the Singaporeans.

"Until today, the Swiss and Singapore authorities have not issued a warrant of arrest on anyone linked to 1MDB.

"I am not even sure the basis of your question. It is not for me to establish, they made the claims - in particular, the case is Swiss. It is for them to prove, not for me to verify or not. I didn't make the claim...