Is Arul Kanda Really Leaving 1MDB or it is Just An Exaggeration by the Financial Dailies?
Arul is doing his part in 1MDB as a financial restructuring expert and trying his best to be as transparent as possible, despite knowing that his revelations about 1MDB’s dealings to abolish its long and short term loans might cost him dearly.
Valter Vadivel
It’s indeed another major set-back for 1MDB and its President and Group Executive Director, Arul Kanda, when Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and Aabar PJS dropped the bombshell – saying that Aabar BVI is not an entity of both IPIC and Aabar PJS. To make things worse, IPIC also has ended the debt-asset swap deal with 1MDB, which was signed on 28th May 2015, citing the reason: IPIC never received USD3.5 billion from Aabar BVI, which was paid by 1MDB, in four tranches.
On 14th April, 1MDB found out that it might be a victim of fraud, as it was revealed later that Khadem Al-Qubaisi and Mohammad Badawey Al-Husseiny was terminated abruptly as IPIC’s Managing Director and Aabar PJS’ CEO respectively. Apart from the United Arab Emirates – authorities, the duo also had been subjected to investigation by Swiss authorities.
Since the fraudsters-duo had caused great damage to Arul’s efforts to revive 1MDB, he has no choice but to stay with 1MDB. His resignation letter has also been rejected as the Board of Directors had placed great trust in him to survive the financial strangulation 1MDB has been facing since its inception.
Though Arul had expressed his frustration over his failed dealings with IPIC and Aabar PJS, he never ever said that he would leave the company without his job fully done. Neither is he a liar as claimed by our nation’s major financial dailies. As far as the non-partisan readers are aware, Arul is doing his part in 1MDB as a financial restructuring expert and trying his best to be as transparent as possible, despite knowing that his revelations about 1MDB’s dealings to abolish its long and short term loans might cost him dearly. Therefore, we should respect him and his expertise and shouldn’t make him a victim of our own political preferences.
However, we also have to bear in mind that 1MDB’s multiple credit defaults on its huge debts had greatly raised the public’s distrust over the key players of the sovereign wealth fund. So, it is incumbent on the key players to come clean on the purported financial scandals surrounding 1MDB as soon as possible. The AG Chambers and the Police are expected to leave no stones unturned to find the real culprit, instead of giving way for the public and the media to hit out at the wrong people.
