Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz addresses members of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur October 11, 2021. — Bernama pic
KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today called Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s claim that Putrajaya has yet to pay “a single sen” of 1MDB’s principal debt baseless.
Tengku Zafrul explained that the federal government will begin servicing the principal debt once some of the bonds issued by the sovereign fund and its subsidiaries mature by May this year. The debt servicing will continue to be paid until 2039.
He said the first tranche of payments will start May 11, 2022, for bonds issued under 1MDB Energy Limited and the 1MDB Energy (Langat) worth RM7.3 billion.
“The balance of our commitment is about RM38 billion,” Zafrul replied to the Member of Parliament for Bagan and his predecessor Lim Guan Eng during Question Time.
“The principal is RM32 billion with the interest amounting to RM6.5 billion so that the allegation that we haven’t paid the principal debt is baseless considering the bonds issued by the fund will mature later,” the minister added.
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