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Yoursay: The one question that Arul Kanda has trouble answering

YOURSAY | ‘How long can 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda keep up this act?’

Arul Kanda: I don't fear debating Tony Pua, but...

Vijay47: 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy seems to be president, secretary and treasurer of the one-member Arul Admirers Association, considering yourself a master of finance, law and debate.

By the way, unlike your claim, you did not face up to Malaysiakini’s questions well. When you were asked whether the Brazen Sky’s fund units (said to be worth US$940 million) was fully redeemed, you could not give a simple straightforward answer, and the question had to be asked repeatedly.

Instead, you were squirming, twisting and dancing like an eel, hardly what a master of finance, law and debate would do.

Accustomed as you must be to “helpful” chats with mainstream media outlets, the interview with Malaysiakini must have been of a different league altogether, where they refused to accept your disinclination to answer.

I do not deny you may have been good in your time, but once you joined 1MDB and sipped from the Umno chalice, you became just another mouthpiece of a lost cause.

Your retreat from taking on DAP’s Tony Pua on the grounds that he is a politician and you a corporate person explaining things from a company perspective may sound profound at the Umno assembly, but simply reflects cowardice to everyone else.

Since when has it been wrong for a politician to have a political motive in seeking answers to questions on possible transgressions?

As a corporate person, it is your duty to defend your company, not just from Pua’s challenges but from the countless international allegations 1MDB is confronted by.

You can hide behind the Dewan Rakyat speaker, the attorney-general, and caretaker communications minister Salleh Said Keruak and his ilk in Umno, but you cannot run from Pua. You know that he will rip you to bits even caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak would not recognise you.

Face your challengers, Arul Kanda, and if you are vanquished – as you would be – so be it.

Not Convinced: Arul Kanda, so after repeated questioning at the Malaysiakini interview, you finally conceded that the “fund units” were not redeemed. So they are still there.

My question is why are they not redeemed? After all, your job is to monetise 1MDB assets to pay its mammoth debts. You have sold Edra power plants. You have sold the 1MDB lands (which it got at a huge discount from the government).

As Malaysiakini reported, the fund units in theory are more liquid than hard assets such as power plants and land. So why are they not redeemed?

My answer to that, as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has pointed out, the fund units are “worthless”. The US$940 million (RM3.7 billion) is as good as gone.

That’s why, Arul Kanda, you have tried, time and again, to sidestep the question at the interview.

Ryan: In case you’ve forgotten, Arul Kanda, Pua is a member of parliament voted by the rakyat, and his intention is to seek an explanation to find out the truth whether public funds have been misappropriated. It is his duty and responsibility.

If everything that was done in the company was above board, just answer Pua’s questions and show the audited accounts. It’s that simple.

Anonymous 459: I’ve never heard of CEOs going on roadshows to explain how their companies did not allegedly steal money.

If he wants to behave like a politician, then he should do as DAP’s Lim Kit Siang suggests – run for the 14th general election. Let the people, not a captive audience, be the judge.

Anonymous 459: The trouble with Arul Kanda claiming that he is a corporate figure is that he isn’t a corporate figure. He is entrusted with public funds. He has more to answer for than most politicians, and a bigger moral duty.

For this very reason, he has to be transparent and explain all and sundry to the public. To start with, 1MDB is in the top 10 largest companies in the country and its accounts for the past four years have not been audited or filed.

Someone Out There: With all his qualifications, can Arul Kanda not make a living elsewhere? As a result of helming 1MDB, his credibility as a trustworthy, principled and sound person is in disrepute.

But he took the job, he has to live with the consequences.

Malaysian-United: There is no need to have fancy academic qualifications and professional experience to do the simple, low-down job of concealing and twisting facts on 1MDB. Any lowly-paid company executive can do the job for a fraction of his wages.

Arul Kanda can go around pretending he has an important and high-profile job, but in reality, he has a career reserved only for those who can't find gainful, legitimate employment elsewhere.

Wg321: Arul Kanda, if you want to debate, just go ahead. Please don't give excuse after excuse. Pua does not need you to make him famous. He is already famous, mostly because of your company.

The 1MDB scandal is so massive that it is impossible to cover it up with the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 and the Official Secrets Act 1972.

This 1MDB scandal is not like the Altantuya Shaariibuu scandal. That could be covered up to some extent because it is localised in Malaysia, whereas the 1MDB scandal involves many major countries, like the US, UK, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.

How long can Arul Kanda keep up this act?

Non-Evader: So smart and so well-qualified that he can only ramble when questions are hurled at him.

So smart and so well-qualified that he associates himself with a corrupted leader and helms a company with literally the worst reputation in the world.

So many contradictions.


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