This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 20, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians want a conclusion to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) investigation, so that the country would be able to move on towards economic recovery, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz told CNBC.

“Everyone wants a conclusion to it, so we can just move on.

“So that our currency will better reflect our fundamentals and we can deal with other economic issues that the country is being confronted with,” the governor said in an interview with the United States-based business channel, which was uploaded on its website yesterday.

Zeti said the central bank had done its part, having completed its investigation into 1MDB and taking action, but added that it was not the only authority scrutinising the firm’s activities.

“There are others,” Zeti said in the four-minute interview.

Zeti was responding to a question about how much damage the 1MDB controversy had inflicted on Malaysia, the country’s next manoeuvre in riding out the crisis and whether there is any way to resolve it.

In September last year, Zeti similarly stated that the ringgit, Asia’s worst-performing currency last year, could expect to recover once the issues surrounding the troubled state fund are resolved.

In November, Zeti also defended the central bank’s investigation into 1MDB, saying there was no mistake in the probe after the Attorney-General’s Chambers decided not to take further action against 1MDB over inaccurate disclosures relating to overseas investments.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said the decision was made despite the central bank’s appeal for a review because there had been no additional evidence.

1MDB has been the subject of multiple investigations, amid allegations of financial mismanagement and graft.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who also chairs the fund’s advisory board, has resisted calls for him to step down from government.

1MDB is in the midst of carrying out a rationalisation plan to reduce its debt, which stood at RM42 billion, according to its latest financial audited accounts published on March 31, 2014.

The plan includes a sale of its 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd for RM7.41 billion, sale of all its energy assets under Edra Global Energy Bhd and a debt-for-assets swap with International Petroleum Investment Co, which reduced 1MDB’s debt by RM16 billion. — The Malaysian Insider