Selangor Journal
A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, on March 1, 2015. — Picture by REUTERS

Malaysia’s 1MDB state fund still US$7.8 bln (RM32.3 bln) in debt – Govt report

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state fund at the centre of a massive corruption scandal, still had an estimated RM32.3 billion (US$7.80 billion) in outstanding debt as of September, the government said yesterday.

Set up in 2009 by former prime minister Najib Razak, authorities are investigating how billions of dollars went missing from 1MDB – a disappearance the government says led to the finance ministry having to bail out the fund.

Malaysia said in 2018 the government would have to pay about US$13 billion (RM54 billion) of 1MDB’s dues.

Since April 2017, the government has provided RM9.4 billion in loans and advances to help 1MDB meet its financial commitments and debt obligations, according to the 2021 fiscal outlook report, released ahead of the government’s budget announcement on Friday.

Malaysia has also recovered a total of RM13.4 billion (US$3.24 billion) in assets linked to 1MDB’s financial trail as of the end of September, the report said.

The amount includes about RM2.6 billion (US$628 million) in cash and assets recovered and returned to Malaysia by the US authorities, as well as US$2.5 billion (RM10.3 billion) paid by Goldman Sachs to settle a Malaysian probe into the investment bank’s role in the 1MDB scandal.

Goldman Sachs, which had helped 1MDB raise a total of US$6.5 billion (RM27 billion) in bonds, has also guaranteed to help Malaysia recover US$1.4 billion (RM5.8 billion) more in 1MDB-linked assets.

The United States has said about US$4.5 billion (RM18.5 billion) was stolen from 1MDB in an elaborate scheme that spanned the globe and implicated high-level officials of the fund, former prime minister Najib, Goldman executives, and others.

Malaysian authorities say billions of dollars remain unaccounted for.

— Reuters

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