Wednesday, April 24, 2013

PETALING JAYA: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) firmly said the US$2.318bil (RM7.2bil) as stated in its audited accounts is safe.

"These are proceeds and profits originating from its initial MDB-PetroSaudi International joint venture, and the fact is clearly reported in the company’s audited account that is publicly available from the Companies Commission of Malaysia," the company said in a statement yesterday.

It added that IMDB had been independently audited by a global reputable and established firm.

1MDB also regretted that certain quarters with political agendas have hidden motives to persistently make baseless allegations.

"This is a smear campaign for their own intended benefit.

"The notion that these monies were put in Cayman Islands companies and will vanish is based on a lie perpetuated by these quarters and is completely absurd," the government-owned strategic development company said.

1MDB has also earmarked the proceeds for investments in the near future.

Pending that, these funds for cash management purposes are currently placed under regulated and licensed international fund managers in Cayman Islands based international standard fund structures, it said.

It said the recent US$3bil (RM9.3bil) capital raised was an integral part of a government-to-government collaboration between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi on a strategic partnership sealed on March 12 during the official visit by Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, General Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Both countries now are committed to kick-start the operations of this strategic RM18bil partnership. Malaysia and Abu Dhabi have maintained a long standing economic partnership and the ADMIC (Abu Dhabi Malaysia Investment Co) initiative was no exception and independent of the elections and should not otherwise be misconstrued, 1MDB added.

"Various statements that have been quoted with respect to pricing and structure from unnamed sources in the media are inaccurate," it said.

As a prudent government-owned entity, 1MDB considered all of its options (pricing, structure, investment bank, and others) in the recent financing and chose the optimal path in light of the various considerations.

The company stressed that 1MDB opted for a private placement to ensure the timely completion of this economic initiative.

It said the proceeds from the US$3bil capital raised would be used for investments in strategic and important high-impact projects like energy and strategic real estate, which are vital to the long-term economic growth of both countries.

By http://biz.thestar.com.my