Deloitte tries to quit as 1MDB auditor, as international investigations of fund tied to Malaysia PM Najib heat up
(CNBC) – Three of the Big Four accounting firms appeared to have walked away from their work at 1MDB.
Malaysia’s troubled wealth fund 1MDB has revealed that Deloitte told it in February it would quit as auditor as soon as a replacement could be found.
The fund’s announcement came in the wake of last week’s move by the U.S. Department of Justice to seize more than $1 billion worth of assets it alleged were tied to an international conspiracy to launder money funneled away from 1MDB.
As well as giving notice of Deloitte’s intention to resign as auditor of the fund, 1MDB said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday that it “remains confident” that the fund committed no wrongdoing and that previous audited statements were “true and fair.”
But it added that as “a precautionary measure,” the 2013 and 2014 audited statements shouldn’t be relied on until the allegations in the U.S. complaint were resolved.
Deloitte echoed that view, saying in a statement dated Tuesday that if the information in the U.S. complaint had been known during the 2013 and 2014 audits, it would have impacted the financial statements and audit reports Deloitte signed off on for those years.
