1MDB: "My Job Here Is Done, Now I Need To Move On"- Arul Kanda
He said at present the company is in a debt settlement phase and would not take in new debt.KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy said his job at the investment-arm company is done.
“My job is to come in, identify the problem, put together the solution, herd people to stay focused,“ he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“I’ve done it, now I need to move on,” he said.
"From my perspective, I’m done. Everything’s signed. Legal agreements are there, they’re binding. I’m leaving the company with available funds,” he said.
The interview on Wednesday was published today.
"I only signed up for one-third of what I ended up doing. I did not sign up for the investigations because that happened after I joined, and I definitely didn’t sign up for the extent of the comms-slash-politics that I had to deal with,” he said.
He said the misconceptions on 1MDB stemmed from the fact that a business problem became politicised and ended up becoming a tool for the Opposition to attack the government.
“That’s the reality of it," he said.
Stressing that there is no bailout for 1MDB, Arul Kanda told Bloomberg that the company does not need money from its shareholders to get to 2039 when the last bonds are due.
On March 25, Arul Kanda said 1MDB had fully settled a RM700 million loan o a consortium of domestic banks. The loan was first drawn in 2012 to partially finance 1MDBs acquisition of its energy assets.
He also said that 1MDB will make announcements on its other debt payments in two to three weeks.
Arul Kanda said at present the company is in a debt settlement phase and would not take in new debt.
On the controversial the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land, Arul Kanda told Bloomberg that the company will retain the land to pay off outstanding bonds.
"Why don’t I want to sell it off today and pay off the debt? Because I think it’s going to be worth more over time."
1MDB was first established as the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) with the Terengganu government as its shareholder. TIA shares were taken over by the Finance Ministry, following which TIA was renamed 1MDB.
On March 15, the Finance Ministry said the government has no plans to dissolve 1MDB for the time being.
The ministry said 1MDB was a long-term project to capitalise on international investments and expertise in projects with high multiplier value and innovation.
-Astro Awani
BESTFBKL: During his term whether right or wrong he spoke well and defended 1MDB well.
