1MDB president and executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy has challenged DAP lawmaker Tony Pua to provide proof with regard to his “malicious accusation”.

Urging the opposition MP to “stop cherry picking”, he accused Pua of persisting in misleading the public.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny any prior knowledge that Aabar BVI has been liquidated, apart from what I have read in recent press reports,” he said in a media statement.

This morning, Pua urged the authorities to investigate Arul Kanda for allegedly covering up the 1MDB-IPIC-Aabar scam.

He said the most damning evidence was that Aabar BVI had been wound up 10 months ago, in June 2015, six months after Arul Kanda helmed the state-owned fund.

Therefore, he asked how could Arul Kanda be ignorant of the fact that a company ceased to exist after receiving 1MDB's fund totalling US$3.51 billion.

However, Arul Kanda claimed Pua conveniently forgot to mention certain facts.

“Whilst 1MDB purchased the power assets at approximately RM12 billion and sold it at RM9.83 billion, it also received approximately RM2 billion in cash dividends during the period of ownership, which totals RM11.83 billion i.e. a cash-on-cash, near ‘break-even’ position.

“Pua knew this fact, as recorded in the Hansard of my explanation during the PAC proceedings, yet he chose to hide it and mislead the Malaysian public,” he charged.

Arul Kanda also noted that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, which Pua as a member of the committee also collectively approved, has been tabled to Parliament and the police have confirmed that investigations are ongoing.

“Pua should stop cherry picking and let the authorities do their job,” he added.

The “cherry picking” idiom is the latest in 1MDB’s growing list of retorts to Pua, who has been piling a mountain of allegations against the firm.

Previously, 1MDB labelled the opposition MP as a “one-trick pony” for recycling allegations, and reminded him that he cannot be “80 percent pregnant” with regard to the PAC report.