1MDB appoints Parker Randall as new auditor

Move comes nearly a year after Deloitte told Malaysian fund of its plans to resign

A site in Kuala Lumpur owned by 1MDB. The state investment company, which is being investigated for alleged corruption and money laundering by public officials, already has some of its subsidiaries being audited by a Malaysian unit of Parker Randall.
A site in Kuala Lumpur owned by 1MDB. The state investment company, which is being investigated for alleged corruption and money laundering by public officials, already has some of its subsidiaries being audited by a Malaysian unit of Parker Randall. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

KUALA LUMPUR • 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has appointed a new auditor almost a year after Deloitte notified the state investment company that it planned to resign.

Parker Randall has already started auditing some of the subsidiaries of 1MDB, the chairman of the fund's board of directors Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah told reporters yesterday.

1MDB said a Malaysian unit of Parker Randall was hired.

1MDB said in July that Deloitte is resigning and the company is seeking a replacement, without giving a reason for the departure.

It also said then that its audited financial statements for 2013 and 2014 should not be relied on after United States prosecutors said more than US$3.5 billion (S$5.01 billion) was misappropriated from the fund during a period that included those years.

The Malaysian fund is at the centre of several international investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering by public officials. Prosecutors in at least four countries - Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the US - are looking into money flows from the investment vehicle, which was established for national development.

1MDB has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Singapore prosecutors yesterday charged a former branch manager of Falcon Private Bank, the fifth person to be indicted in the city-state's probe linked to 1MDB. Jens Sturzenegger, a Swiss, faces 16 charges, including failing to report to the authorities that US$1.27 billion of inflows into two bank accounts were suspicious.

Parker Randall International described itself on its website as a worldwide organisation of independent audit and accounting firms, with representatives in 50 countries and about 2,000 partners and employees.

1MDB had said previously that it could not file its accounts for the financial year ended March 2015 because it was not able to prepare statements for audit as necessary documents had been seized by the authorities during a raid in July 2015.

Its previous auditors include KPMG and Ernst & Young, according to transcripts from a Malaysian parliamentary committee investigation.

BLOOMBERG

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 06, 2017, with the headline 1MDB appoints Parker Randall as new auditor. Subscribe