YOURSAY | ‘Such post-expiry date announcements would warrant disciplinary action if this was a corporation.’

Najib denies 1MDB unable to pay IPIC, says it's technical

SusahKes: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak assured the Dewan Rakyat that 1MDB was able to pay Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) after it missed a deadline to pay IPIC US$602.5 million as part of a settlement struck in April. He stated that the delay was merely a technical matter that he left unspecified.

Interesting though, isn’t it? That Najib waits until the expiry of the settlement tenure, to issue an official statement with regards to the so-called "technical" default.

I sure hope that's not how you run your household or listed company finances. Such embarrassing post-expiry date announcements, would warrant disciplinary action, even sacking, to say the least, if this was a corporate conglomerate.

I would advise Najib and his team to stop giving the impression that Malaysia could afford to be nonchalant on this matter.

Vijay47: First of all, Najib, let me congratulate you on your actual attendance at a parliamentary session. I hope you found your way around the unfamiliar building easily enough.

Secondly, your linguistic talents seem to be improving tremendously and you are getting very fluent in gobbledygook - being unable to settle a debt on the due date seems to be only a technical setback "not expected" to hurt the economy. Then again, I suppose it means you are suggesting that it might.

I hope a "technical defence" will be equally acceptable to the Inland Revenue Board should I be late in paying up my taxes. In any case, Lembaga Hasil is renowned for its generosity since it views strange gifts as donations.

Anonymous 2460391489930458: Next thing Najib will say is that the RM 2.6 billion that entered his personal account is only a "technical" issue. You see, his bank account is “technically” his only by virtue of the bank granting him the use of the account which means the account actually belongs to the bank. So it's the bank's fault.

And of course, he is "technically" not a civil servant and he is "technically" not answerable to the Malaysian public. But he is "technically" your Prime Minister although he lost the popular vote in GE13 (but that doesn't mean much because that's only a technical issue) so "technically" he can do practically anything he wants. Technically speaking.

Donplaypuks: “Technical” approval? Najib is prime minister, finance minister and chief advisor and approving authority for 1MDB which is 100 percent owned by the Finance Ministry. It would take one minute for him to instruct everyone including Bank Negara Malaysia to expedite all approvals, not 92 days from the end of April 2017!

Anonymous_1421806811: The day Najib agreed to pay IPIC instead of letting the arbitration process run its course for the money which went to the allegedly bogus Aabar BVI company, was the day 1MDB lost. You can continue to dish out "evidence" but the damage is done.

Whatever "technical" excuses were given, if 1MDB doesn't pay up, it will continue to accumulate interest on the money owed. IPIC also has the option of filing bankruptcy charges against 1MDB. Right now IPIC is happily letting the interest balloon. Whatever way you look at it, 1MDB has lost the war.

TheAxman: This is not a debt between two friends. This is a large sovereign debt. Missing payment means missing payment. It has been reported in NBC and Bloomberg already, just like any other payment default. The opposition does not have to make a big deal out of it, because it is already a big deal in the international financial markets if you default on a payment of this size.

What happens next depends on the terms of the payment. There could be cross-default provisions, which mean that all other creditors could be scrambling to secure their position, but this is not the first missed payment. If cross-default kicks in, then Malaysia will have a junk bond status. International financial markets do not take payment defaults lightly.

The most optimistic scenario is that all cross defaults are waived and the payment is made late. Even so, there will be a default interest plus costs, which is going to be very costly.

FairMind: Najib, if 1MDB doesn’t have the money, just be straight and tell Malaysians. Don't drag the whole country down with you.

Admit that you have steered the ship in the wrong direction so that the passengers can get out of the ship before it crashes on the rocky coast. The longer the lies continue, the more Malaysians will be hurt.

1MDB yet to ask gov't for help to pay IPIC, says Johari

Anonymous112233: Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani has said that 1MDB, which failed to meet its July 31 deadline to pay the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) US$602.5 million, has not asked the government for help. He added that the government would not consider helping 1MDB unless asked.

This minister’s statement is illogical. 1MDB is 100 percent controlled by the government, and the government should take the initiative to find out how it can help and avoid the image of Malaysia being tarnished.

By the way, the top officials of 1MDB are appointed by the government. Do you expect them to do miracles without the green light by higher authorities? We rakyat are not stupid, we just want to know the truth. It means nothing to hide.

Enggang: If 1MDB is in good shape as claimed by Arul Kanda and Najib, then why should the company be asking for government help to pay its debt to IPIC? Let it solve its own problem without involving the government, which translates into "the rakyat ", or taxpayers.

Anonymous 2436471476414726: Johari, just make sure not to use taxpayers’ money to pay off 1MDB’s debts. Let 1MDB handle it themselves through their rationalization plan, whatever that means. They have "units" invested somewhere, why not monetise it.

But in the unlikely event that the government has to assist, we would expect a full disclosure. No lies. No spin. If they use even one ringgit of the taxpayers’ money we want to know.

No technical jargon. No old grandmother's stories.

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