Just publish all board meeting minutes to forestall ‘surprises’, 1MDB chief told

(Malay Mail Online) – State-owned 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) could avoid future embarrassment from having its particulars exposed on whistleblower websites by publishing the minutes of its board meetings, DAP’s Tony Pua suggested today.

The opposition lawmaker said doing so would prevent their critics from springing unwanted surprises on them that could result in potential public misunderstanding, such as through the latest admission from 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy over a leaked January 12, 2015 meeting minutes that surfaced on London-based Sarawak Report’s (SR) website last week.

“To prevent further untold surprises from turning up on whistle-blower sites, I call upon Arul Kanda to make public all the Board Meeting minutes, particular for the meetings held after he was appointed the President of 1MDB,” Pua said in a statement.

He added that while the controversies facing 1MDB now took place before Arul Kanda joined the company as its chief, the latter’s continued defence will deepen the perception that he is complicit in any wrongdoing.

Yesterday, Arul Kanda was forced to acknowledge that SR appeared to have published yesterday an authentic 1MDB document, which was the minutes of the January 12 board meeting, saying that it was his first since joining the company on January 5 this year.

However, he denied the portal’s claim that he had lied to the board about cash in the state investment firm’s BSI Singapore bank account.

Arul Kanda, also the 1MDB group executive director, said he has since explained in detail the sequence of events to the National Audit Department and to 1MDB’s auditors, Deloitte.

He added that he also looked forward to explaining to the next Public Accounts Committee when Parliament reconvenes to “conclusively” clear the air surrounding 1MBD.