Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must begin an immediate inquiry into the troubled sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), an anti-corruption watch group said.
It said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is chairman of 1MDB's advisory board, should provide an answer to the fund's troubled developments.
"1MDB can no longer afford the luxury of silence and must come clean on its actual state of financial affairs and management in general. 1MDB cannot operate in secrecy, and cannot pretend that it does not owe the Malaysian public, investors and business community any explanation or clarification," C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel said in a statement.The sovereign fund should also disclose the expected yearly rate of return on placements domestically and overseas, finance costs per annum, and the amount of 1MDB's loans and bonds that enjoy government guarantees.
The anti-graft group said the chairman of 1MDB's board of governors, Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, should present a status report of the fund's latest state of affairs to Parliament at its next session this month.
C4 noted that Lodin had also been involved in the purchase of Scorpene submarines as a director of the company, Perimekar, until 2010, and that the company was being investigated by the French authorities for allegedly accepting kickbacks in the submarine deal.
C4 said 1MDB should disclose updated information on the amount of funds placed overseas that have been repatriated back to Malaysia for reinvestments, to pay up debts as well as for reserves and upcoming projects.
"Malaysians have every right to demand accountability, transparency and integrity in the management and operations of 1MDB and the use of its funds… how could things go so wrong after just five years?"
1MDB was set up in 2009 as the government's strategic investment arm with a grant of RM5 billion but has since acquired debts of RM38 billion as of March 2013 amid allegations of mismanagement.
C4 said there were at least four areas to which 1MDB must provide answers.
One was its delay in getting listing approval for its energy unit comprising of power plants and desalination plants in more than six countries to settle a loan of RM5.5 billion that is due in November this year.
The listing was aimed at raising more than US$3 billion (RM9.6 billion) to settle the loan which has been extended twice.