Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, FATIMAH ZAINAL and ASHLEY TANG

       A TOTAL of RM6.5bil in interest payments alone needed to be forked out for 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) existing debts, says Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

       Till the end of this month, the government’s total remaining commitment for 1MDB amounts to RM38.8bil, he added.

       “The principal is RM32.3bil with an interest of RM6.5bil. Claims that we have not started paying the principal debts of 1MDB is baseless considering that the principal debts will only mature later,” Tengku Zafrul said when replying to a question raised by Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

       Lim had asked Tengku Zafrul to clarify Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s (BN-Pekan) claims that the government had not paid a sen on the debts of 1MDB.

       Tengku Zafrul said the maturity of the 1MDB bonds were between 2022 and 2039.

       That was why the principals have not been paid, he said.

       “But, we have started paying the interest,” he said.

       Meanwhile, Tony Pua (PH-Damansara) wants Najib cited to Parliament’s Rights and Privileges Committee for misleading the House over 1MDB.

       He said that the Pekan MP’s claims that not even one sen of the rakyat’s money was used to repay the debt of 1MDB and several other matters related to it were misleading.

       Among Najib’s claims was that the previous Pakatan Harapan and current Perikatan Nasional administrations had yet to make payments on 1MDB’s RM32bil debt since 2018.

       He also claimed that the deal involving the 1MBD take over of an independent power producer had saved the government RM50bil while increasing Petronas reserves by RM30bil in 2018.