【经济学人】清算丨2017.04.27丨总第898期

FOR the past year 1MDB—a Malaysian state investment firm at the heart of one of the world’s biggest financial scandals—has been locked in dispute with IPIC, a sovereign-wealth fund from the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi, with which it was once chummy. Terse statements released on April 24th suggest the pair are finally making up. 1MDB has agreed to pay IPIC $1.2bn, reportedly to settle a complaint that it reneged on the terms of a bail-out IPIC provided in 2015.（读者试译） The two companies have also agreed to enter into “good-faith discussions” about other disputed payments, which may total as much as $3.5bn.

一年来，1MDB（马来西亚国有投资公司，它正处于世界上最大的金融丑闻之一的中心）和IPIC（阿布扎比-产油酋长国之一的一家主权财富基金）正陷入纠纷，此前它与IPIC关系亲密。4月24日发布的简短声明，暗示双方终于和解。（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）关于其他有争议的款项，两家公司同意进行“诚意磋商”，总金额高达35亿美元。

• Chummy 非常友好的；亲密的

Past dealings between 1MDB and IPIC are a focus for investigators hunting huge sums that have gone missing from the Malaysian state-owned company since its founding in 2009. In 2012 IPIC offered to guarantee loans that 1MDB needed to acquire two power firms. But IPIC said last year that it had never received collateral and other monies supposedly due to it under this deal. Instead 1MDB appears to have wired payments to an account held by an unrelated shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands, which had adopted a name similar to that of one of IPIC’s subsidiaries.

1MDB和IPIC的往来交易成为焦点，因为调查员正在搜寻一笔巨额款项，这笔钱是2009年创立的马来西亚国有公司的钱。2012年 IPIC因为1MDB需要收购两家电力公司，为其提供了担保贷款。但IPIC去年表示，在这个交易中，它从未收到过任何抵押和其他款项。然而1MDB表示已经支付，它支付的账户是一个注册地在英属维京群岛的空壳公司，该公司名称和IPIC的子公司名称相似。

Last July investigators at America’s Justice Department said they thought that this ruse had allowed conspirators to liberate more than $1.3bn from 1MDB’s coffers (opposition politicians in Malaysia maintain that the sum lost is in fact far greater). America alleges that former officials from both IPIC and 1MDB benefited from the swindle. They also claim that more than $200m of the missing money went to an account controlled by Riza Aziz—the stepson of Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister—and that $30m went to Mr Najib himself. (Both deny wrongdoing.)

去年七月，美国司法部的调查人员表示，他们认为这个诡计让阴谋家从1MDB金库获得了13亿多美元（相反马来西亚的政治家坚持认为，实际上失去的数目是更多的）。美国声称，IPIC和1MDB的前官员从这场骗局中获益。他们还声称，消失不见的2亿多美元转到了一个由马来西亚总理Najib Razak的继子Riza Aziz控制的账户里，并且有3000万美元到了Najib先生自己账户里。（他们都否认了欺骗行径。）

That 1MDB and IPIC are beginning to bury the hatchet is probably a relief for bigwigs implicated in the affair, even if many humbler Malaysians are wondering how the billion-or-so dollars immediately due to IPIC will be found. Although investigations are continuing in America, Switzerland and Singapore, the authorities in Malaysia itself have charged no one in connection with any of 1MDB’s dubious dealings. Mr Najib fired an attorney-general looking into the scandal; the successor Mr Najib appointed concluded that $681m paid to Mr Najib in 2013 was a donation from foreign royalty, not in any way related to 1MDB.

1MDB与IPIC将化干戈为玉帛，这可能让被卷入此事的人安心，即使很多马来西亚人疑惑为什么因为IPIC而使得上亿的美元被立即发现。虽然在美国，瑞士和新加坡的调查还在继续，马来西亚当局并没有指控任何一家与1MDB有可疑交易的人。Najib先生解雇了一名调查这起丑闻的总检察长，被指定为下一任继承者的Najib先生认为在2013年支付给他的6.81亿美元是来自外国皇室的捐款，与1MDB无关。

• attorney-general 总检察长，首席检察官

Many voters in rural seats either do not understand the affair or do not care about it. It is rumoured that the prime minister will call a general election later this year, in the hope of benefiting from the opposition’s interminable squabbling. As things stand, he will probably clean up.

许多农村的选民不理解或根本不在乎这桩案件。谣传总理今年后期会举行大选，并希望从反对党无休止的争吵中获益。就目前的情况来看，他可能会进行整顿。

• Interminable 冗长的；没完没了的

翻译 ▍甜甜，沙漠下雨，倚南窗，eve

审核 ▍向北

背景知识▍倚南窗

图文编辑 ▍太止

责任编辑 ▍毛毛