KUALA LUMPUR -- With barely a month leading up to her retirement from Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian central bank, Gov. Zeti Aziz has vowed to ensure that troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad repatriate $1.83 billion that it invested abroad.

Last October, citing fabricated disclosures, the central bank revoked three permissions granted to 1MDB for investments abroad and instructed the company to return the $1.83 billion to Malaysia.

"As it has been assessed that (1MDB) has not complied with the bank's directions, the bank is pursuing appropriate administrative enforcement action as allowed to us by the laws under which the bank operates," Zeti said at a media briefing on Wednesday after unveiling the central bank's annual report for 2015.

Zeti said that 1MDB's response so far was that it needed the funds to repay foreign debt and for restructuring purposes, which the bank accepted, with the requirement that 1MDB provide documentation to substantiate its claims. "At this stage, we have not received that evidence," she added.

"We will take the necessary actions because the main reason why we want to do this is to uphold the integrity of the functioning of our financial system. Most regulations have been put in place, and companies, regardless of who the shareholders are, have to comply with [them]."

Without going into specifics, she said the measures the central bank can apply is to fine the state fund on top of other recommendations, although she said the purview of the bank is limited and that it would need the help of other agencies to bring the matter to a close.

The scandal revolving around 1MDB came to light in late 2014 after the company nearly defaulted on its debt of $11 billion. The financial saga blew up in July 2015 after it emerged that nearly $700 million suspected of being related to the fund had ended up in Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal bank account. Najib, the fund's advisory board chairman, was cleared by the Malaysian authorities after it was revealed that the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family.

In respond the central bank's latest directive, 1MDB said it has "fully cooperated" with the central bank's probes for the past year.

Zeti will step down in April after serving 16 years as Bank Negara's first female governor. Since the emergence of the 1MDB debacle and the involvement of the central bank, Zeti has indicated that she desired closure so that she can hand over the reins to the next bank governor on a clean slate.

Najib has yet to name Zeti's successor, but local news reports pointed to the possibility of a non-central bank bureaucrat replacing her.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's time for me to hand the baton over," said Zeti. "I have done all those things that, in my mind, I wanted to do."