Finance Ministry: Malaysia received RM336m from Deloitte for 1MDB, SRC settlement

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — The Malaysian government announced today that it has received the remittance of US$80 million (RM336 million) in from an out-of-court settlement related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) from international audit firm Deloitte PLT.

The Finance Ministry said the monies deposited into Malaysia’s Assets Recovery Trust Account will be utilised to primarily repay and service 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd’s remaining debts.

“To date, the government has repaid RM12.54 billion of 1MDB's debt and RM3.1 billion of SRC's debt.

“The balance of debt is still outstanding, comprising the principal and coupon/ profit/ interest of bonds, Sukuk and term loans, currently totaling RM39.66 billion (1MDB) and RM2.57 billion (SRC),” it said in a statement here.

To date, the Finance Ministry said the trust account — under the custody of the Accountant General’s Department – has received RM16.386 billion of seized and repatriated 1MDB funds.

The Finance Ministry also said the current balance in the trust account was sufficient to service 1MDB’s debt obligations for 2021 and 2022 only.

“This balance excludes the settlement amount of RM2.83 billion that will be received from the Ambank Group soon. Aside from that, negotiations are also currently ongoing with KPMG.

“Once all recovered funds in the trust account have been utilised, the government will still have to continue bearing the burden of servicing 1MDB’s debt obligations, which were backed by the Government’s Guarantee and Letter of Support when these debts were created,” it added.

The settlement with Deloitte represents the largest 1MDB-related settlement by an audit firm in South East Asia.

The Finance Ministry previously said the agreed settlement was aimed at resolving all claims related to their fiduciary duty on auditing the accounts of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC) from 2011 to 2014.

Following the latest developments, the Finance Ministry stressed that all those involved will be made fully accountable for the wrongdoings caused to the country through their involvement in 1MDB or SRC International.

“The government’s current recovery efforts are focused on parties who have caused losses to 1MDB and SRC during the execution of their duties, whether through direct or indirect involvement in 1MDB and SRC’s various operations and transactions, as well as those who have wrongfully received SRC monies disguised as CSR activities,” it said.

Under the previous US$3.9 billion deal which similarly resolved all outstanding charges and claims against Goldman Sachs, the settlement with Malaysia includes Goldman Sachs’ cash payment of US$2.5 billion (RM10.6 billion) and guarantee of full recovery value of at least US$1.4 billion (RM5.9 billion) in assets traceable to proceeds diverted from three 1MDB-linked bonds which it had helped arrange.