Malaysian Regulator Reviews Auditors' Conduct of 1MDB Accounts
Malaysian Regulator Reviews Auditors' Conduct of 1MDB Accounts
(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s Securities Commission said it’s still reviewing the conduct of auditors in relation to state investment company 1MDB, as investigators around the world probe billions of dollars allegedly embezzled from the fund.
The commission and an audit oversight board will assess the findings and decide on the next course of action, a spokesperson from the SC said in a statement on Saturday. It didn’t name the auditors.
1Malaysia Development Bhd. is at the center of several international investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering. Prosecutors from Singapore, to Switzerland and the U.S. are looking into money flows from the investment vehicle, which was established for national development.
Reuters earlier reported on the SC’s comments.
Previous auditors of 1MDB include Deloitte LLP, KPMG and Ernst & Young, according to transcripts from a parliamentary committee that probed alleged wrongdoing at the fund. A report by the Public Accounts Committee showed at least $4.2 billion of unauthorized and unverified transactions at 1MDB.
1MDB had said previously that it couldn’t file its accounts for the financial year ended March 2015 because it wasn’t able to prepare statements for audit as necessary documents were seized by authorities during a raid in July 2015.
In June last year, KPMG retracted its audit reports for financial years ended March 2010, 2011 and 2012, saying it didn’t have access to relevant documents that Malaysia’s new government had since declassified. The withheld information would have “materially impacted” the assessments had it been made available to the auditor, KPMG said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at echew16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Shamim Adam
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