KUALA LUMPUR — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has defended 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s (pic) RM5-million salary package. Najib said Arul Kanda had received a lower salary at 1MDB compared to that at his previous job at a bank in the United Arab Emirates.
He said Arul Kanda took a big pay cut to join the state-owned company and had even successfully reduced its debt from RM50 billion to RM30 billion.
“So, he has accomplished that part of his responsibility. You must see it in the context that whatever was paid to him was much smaller than what he was earning before he joined 1MDB,” Najib said when approached by reporters at the Parliament lobby today.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday said Najib had approved the RM5-million salary package for Arul Kanda.
Lim said that half of the payment had been made for the period of January to June this year.
— BERNAMA
