QUESTION TIME Finally, after over three years of unrelenting, intensive reporting on the misdeeds of self-styled strategic development company 1Malaysia Development Bhd, there is admission from management that there could be fraud - after US$3.51 billion, or RM14 billion, has gone missing.

It also marks a very serious disagreement with some of its partners which are state-owned enterprises of Abu Dhabi, one of whom guaranteed a huge US$3.5 billion via two bonds while the other is the joint venture partner in the RM18 billion Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) financial services real estate project in Kuala Lumpur.

This missing RM14 billion is a massive development, representing an unravelling of the 1MDB empire built entirely on debt. It is a damning indictment of the management and shareholders who were very likely involved in a deliberate and considered effort to transfer a huge amount of money fraudulently out of 1MDB, money obtained through bonds.

It was bad enough that the reasons for this massive transfer of funds were rather tenuous and unreasonable, those who were supposed to have received that massive sum of RM14 billion deny that they were ever paid, an incredulous turn of events which confirms fraud...