KUALA LUMPUR: Auditors KPMG have notified Malaysia’s scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) that its audits for three years do not provide a “true and fair” assessment of the company, the fund said on Tuesday.
1MDB, which faces money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, was founded by former prime minister Najib Razak, who suffered a stunning election defeat by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last month.
In reopening an investigation into the 1MDB case, Mahathir has vowed to bring back billions of dollars allegedly siphoned out of the fund and punish those responsible.
“The 1MDB financial statements for the financial years ending March 2010, 2011 and 2012 audited by KPMG do not provide a true and fair assessment of the company,” the audit firm said in a letter dated June 8, 1MDB said.
It advised 1MDB to “immediately take all necessary steps to prevent any further or future reliance” on the three
audit reports, the fund said in a statement.
“According to KPMG, they reached the above decision after going through the recently declassified auditor general’s report on 1MDB and other relevant documents that were withheld from them by the previous management,” 1MDB added.
KPMG also told 1MDB that if the documents had been disclosed to the auditors, the audit firm believed the information “would have materially impacted the financial statements and the relevant audit reports”.
