Mass-resignation of 1MDB board unlikely to be good enough

THE first - and so far, only - conclusive official report on Malaysia's troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) by the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

As a result of the findings in the belated 106-page report, which highlighted a range of shortcomings and governance lapses in the state-backed strategic investment firm's decision-making process and untenable capital structure, the board of 1MDB decided to do the "right thing" and offered to resign en masse.

The resignation of the embattled board, however, does not absolve it of responsibility for the 1MDB controversy which has rocked Malaysia, sparked a political crisis, tainted the image of the country and its top institutions, and was partly to blame for the battered currency until its recent recovery.