Time for Anwar Ibrahim to pursue PwC for 1MDB related damages

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

In March 2021 Sarawak Report sadi of PwC

In a trumpeted move at the time, the PH government appointed the global accountancy firm PWC to act as the highly paid actual managers of 1MDB, under a management agreement put in place in 2018. The agreement means that the day to day running of 1MDB is in the hands of an Executive Committee chaired by one Mohammad Faiz Azmi:

The appointment of Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi as the chairman of the executive committee is part of the scope and services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (PwC) to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

In a statement issued on Tuesday it said PwC is assisting the board and the exco in recovering 1MDB’s assets and in managing the company’s debt [The Star]

Since Faiz Azmi is the Executive Chairman of Pricewaterhouse Cooper in Malaysia and is so intimately involved in the very process of recovering 1MDB’s assets and recovering its debt it is surely a statement from him that Malaysians should be looking for in support of the assurances of the Board?

As the only remaining firm out of the ‘big four’ not to be tarnished by any dirty dealings with 1MDB in the past, PWC certainly has a prized reputation for integrity that it will wish to keep sound. It is at this very moment processing the fine played by its rival Deloitte for failing in such duties.

So, rather than expecting Malaysian’s to rely on a statement from the appointed civil servants on the Board of 1MDB, let them hear confirmation from the accountancy firm PWC, thereby putting its reputation on the line to say that every single dollar of the $2.5 billion obtained from Goldman Sachs and the further settlements has been fully paid into the 1MDB Trust Fund and that no fees or commissions have been taken out of it.

PWC can then also stake its reputation on assuring that although the entire management and contents of the fund have now been unaccountably made secret by the PN government, their firm can assure the public and government critics that not a penny has been misappropriated.

In 2020 this writer noted that the PwC asset recovery was creating its own scandal. As it stands, it is the DOJ and US liquidators who seem to be doing the bulk of the work in recovering 1MDB assets. PwC does not seem to be doing anything to justify its undoubtedly high fees and hence it is time for Anwar Ibrahim to pursue PwC for 1MDB related damages.

TO BE READ WITH 

Monday, February 10, 2020

Malaysia's 1MDB asset recovery creating its own scandal: Question mark over Fin Min Guan Eng's Pol Sec, Tony Pua, and PwC's lack of results, despite huge fees

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Faiz is 1MDB exco chairman, part of PwC services to the company

New Malaysia Tines reported yesterday that Malaysia's attempts at recovering assets stolen from 1MDB has run into further delay as a result of a dispute among partners at the law firm put in charge of the exercise, Lee Hishamuddin AllanGledhiil.

It has also been reported that Tony Pua, the Political Secretary to the  Minister for Finance Lim Guan Eng, has been overseeing the entire exercise, rather than the Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.

The LeeHishamuddin problem raises further questions about Pua's handling of the asset recovery. His choice of PwC and KPMG is in itself plagued by conflicts of interest 
In addition, PwC 's history in Malaysia suggests that it was always going to be the wrong choice.As reported previously on this blog:

PwC and 1MDB: The Southern Bank takeover suggests PwC does not have the skills for this job; and has itself caught in (another) conflict of interest


That LeeHishamuddin had to be hired in addition to PwC (whose fees for services are not cheap) suggests that the 1MDB asset recovery exercise has in itself become a scandal of fees to various parties who have not done anything. 


Adding to all this is the information (see NMT below) that foreign firms have been hired to assist in the recovery.Why this was required when PwC has been assigned the job is intriguing, to say the least.Readers are reminded the US DOJ has already done a considerable amount of work in tracing the cashflows, and recovering some of the assets. 

END

Troubles at LHAG, may delay the recovery of money stolen from 1MDB

By Editor , in Editorial Politics Scandal on February 10, 2020 . Tagged width: 1MDB , Lee Hishamuddin Allen Gledhill , Lim Guan Eng , Tommy Thomas , Tony Pua

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 – According to industry sources who have asked not to be named, Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill, or LHAG had been awarded the job of recovering 1MDB money from various parties by the Attorney General, Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, who is being advised by the Political Secretary to the Minister For Finance Tony Pua.

After a series of delays work on the recovery began late last year led by Tony Pua who has been chairing working group meetings with the LHAG team,which was led by LHAG senior partner Datuk DP Naban. It is understood that at least one overseas law firm has been engaged to assist Pua, despite Pua appointing PwC to take charge of the 1MDB asset recovery.

NMT has sighted the LHAG Notice of Dissolution which could soon mean that all LHAG files, including the 1MDB files, will be under the custody of external administrators who will have to dispose of the files and other LHAG assets .Datuk Naban may no longer advise on the 1MDB matter, leaving Tony Pua and Tan Sri Tommy with yet another delay in the 1MDB matter.

The whole 1MDB recovery has been delayed since the change in government in May 2019. While the US DOJ had provided the Malaysian Government with all its very extensive work, and while Tan Sri Tommy was appointed AG for his extensive knowledge of banking and finance matters and asset recovery, Tan Sri Tommy inexplicably handed over the work to Tony Pua. NMT understands that this was done in part to ensure Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s cooperation in the matter.

Minister Lim and his then adviser , now political secretary Tony Pua appointed PwC to take charge of the recovery, but apart from some quite silly demands being made of Goldman Sachs, nothing else has been done. Lim has gone on record to say that Goldman Sachs need only pay USD7.5 Billion to Malaysia to make its 1MDB problems go away.

The Attorney General handing over his work to a political secretary is unprecedented, and the impact of the dissolution of LHAG under scandalous circumstances adds to the bizarre circumstances surrounding the recovery of money stole from 1MDB.

–NMT