Some Memories

KUALA LUMPUR: The head of troubled Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) said his firm and an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund could face cross defaults on other debts if they fail to make an interest payment by Monday, The Edge Weekly reported. The grace period for a US$50 million coupon payment due on a 1MDB bond expires on Monday, and 1MDB says Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has assumed responsibility for making the payment. Although the interest on the US$1.75 billion bond is widely expected to be paid, the stand-off between the two state firms, who are locked in a wider dispute, has worried the markets and left bondholders waiting on the payment. 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy said in an interview run by The Edge Weekly on Saturday that cross defaults could occur if both firms refuse to budge, though he placed a higher risk on IPIC due to their larger debt pile of US$16 billion raised largely through bonds. "They ...

VICTORIA: The Seychelles is helping an international investigation into the troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state's Financial Intelligence Unit on the Indian Ocean archipelago said. Transactions involving 1MDB, which has piled up US$11 billion in debt, are at the centre of corruption and money laundering investigations in jurisdictions that include the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates. "The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been assisting in an international investigation into allegations surrounding the strategic Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)," the FIU said in a statement emailed to Reuters. "Detailed information relating to offshore entities registered in Seychelles and other matters were passed to the competent authorities of investigating states," it said. The statement was sent to Reuters by Seychelles president's of...