BIZ BUZZ: Maharlika: No such 1MDB-tainted hire

Did Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), the manager of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, just hire someone tainted by Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal?

Maharlika said what was published by Malaysia-based investigative website Sarawak Report—which quickly circulated on social media recently—was “false, baseless and damaging.”

The site alleged that Patrick Mahony, a UK-Swiss national reportedly sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scam, had been hired as a consultant by the Philippine wealth fund.

Not so, said the fledgling fund, which has been controversial since inception. It stressed that Mahony “has not been and has never been engaged by MIC in any capacity, whether formal or otherwise.”

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Critics of the Maharlika fund may recall that the 1MDB fiasco was often cited as a cautionary tale when the idea of creating a Philippine sovereign wealth fund was first floated.

Maharlika, it seems, is eager to make sure no such parallels take root.