The number of Malaysians becoming bankrupt and the number of companies closing down or winding up may increase when the current moratorium on bank loans ends, two economists said, Malay Mail reported. Sunway University economics professor Yeah Kim Leng said that the loan moratorium allows financially-distressed borrowers to avoid becoming bankrupt by postponing loan repayments, but said this would mean that there could be more bankruptcies once the moratorium period ends, The Sunday Star reported today.
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has repatriated $452 million in misappropriated funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), it said in a statement on Thursday, bringing the total amount recovered from the corruption scandal to $1.2 billion, Reuters reported. The funds, which were repatriated to Malaysia, had been laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg, the statement said. "The funds include both funds finally forfeited and funds the Department assisted in recovering and returning.
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Malaysia will lower its economic growth outlook for this year due to movement restrictions against Covid, the country’s finance minister said, signaling the government may forecast expansion around 4%, Bloomberg News reported. While there’s optimism that the current surge in cases can be contained and lockdowns can be eased, the government still expects to lower its gross domestic product estimate for 2021, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said on Monday.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak faltered in his bid to get a High Court to halt bankruptcy proceedings against him for failing to pay a tax bill totalling RM1.74 billion (S$560 million), Bloomberg News reported. Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Ahmad Bache on Monday dismissed Najib’s application for a stay of execution, according to an email exchange between the court and relevant parties. Separately, the court of appeal will hear Najib’s plea on June 16, according to his lawyer Farhan Shafee.
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Malaysia today said the U.S. Department of Justice has returned 1.9 billion ringgit ($460.22 million) of funds recovered from assets related to sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Reuters reported. Malaysian and U.S. investigators say that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, in a wide-ranging scandal that has implicated high-level officials, banks and financial institutions around the world. The United States has been returning funds it has recovered from seized assets that were allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB money.
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Malaysia’s now-defunct 1MDB state fund is suing units of Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and Coutts & Co. to recover billions in alleged losses from a corruption scandal at the fund, court documents seen by Reuters showed. 1MDB is claiming $1.11 billion from Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd, $800 million from J.P. Morgan (Switzerland) Ltd and $1.03 billion from a Swiss-based Coutts unit, and interest payments from all of them, according to the lawsuit.
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Malaysia's scandal-plagued former prime minister Najib Razak is facing bankruptcy for allegedly failing to pay more than $400 million in taxes, which could bring his political career to an end, Agence-France Presse reported. Najib lost power in 2018 when his party, which had governed the Southeast Asian nation for six decades, was defeated at the polls after he became embroiled in a financial scandal.
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Malaysia’s high court on Wednesday granted a restraining order for three months on 15 of AirAsia X Bhd.’s creditors over the debt recast talks for the airline, Bloomberg News reported. The order, applied for by AirAsia X to address its obligations in a timely manner, gives the creditors an opportunity for amicable discussions without “extraneous considerations,” according to an exchange filing.
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Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X Bhd has proposed a separate restructuring programme for its aircraft lessors that aims to tackle their concerns, citing chance to recover rental losses, a document seen by Reuters shows. The airline, an affiliate of AirAsia Group, has for months been trying to reconstitute 64.15 billion ringgit ($15.89 billion) of debt into 200 million ringgit of debt. More than a dozen creditors, mostly lessors, had intervened in court to challenge a proposal that would have meant a haircut for them of 99.7%.
Most of AirAsia X Bhd’s lessors support a restructuring plan, and the Malaysian airline has received interest from potential investors for fundraising after reorganization, court documents filed this month show, Reuters reported. In emails attached to the court filings, supportive lessors said that they wanted to continue discussions with the budget airline and potential new investors, seeking more equitable terms and new commercial arrangements.