‘Don’t rush us, better for thorough probe into 1MDB’

(The Rakyat Post) – Rushing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to complete investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) will only produce unsatisfactory results, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.

The Pulai lawmaker, who is also the PAC chairman, said the public has to be patient and let the committee play its role and carry out its responsibilities.

“Everybody wants us to rush and do things quickly but if we come up with any conclusion that might not be in their favour or their liking, then they will blame us.

“So it’s better for us to be thorough in our investigation.

“We have other things to consider from the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Report which we haven’t done yet and there are new things coming up when the A-G tables the report,” he told reporters outside Parliament.

On a related matter, Nur Jazlan reiterated that PAC had sent a letter informing the Finance Ministry (MOF) of the planned inquiry, 20 days prior.

This after 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy and its former chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahrol Halmi’s “last minute” cancellation for Tuesday’s meeting.

Arul Kanda had cited PAC’s “last minute notice” for being absent, apart from being overseas to attend to other matters.

“The procedure PAC used is to identify the supervising ministry. For any witnesses that we intend to call, we will send a notification to the ministry, which in this case was the Finance Ministry.

“We sent the letter to them on May 6, and as far as we were concerned, we had given them ample notice of more than two weeks to find the witnesses. Then it is up to them.

“Whether Arul Kanda received the notification late from MOF, that is not our concern. Our procedure is we do not send the letters directly to the witnesses.”

Nur Jazlan added the committee had decided to call in the next witnesses, which are the auditors. PAC has sent a letter to MOF on Tuesday informing them of the committee’s intention to meet with Deloitte on June 3 and KPMG on June 17.

The inquiry with Arul Kanda and Shahrol will be conducted on a yet to be determined date, but only after the meetings with 1MDB’s auditors.

“It’s not easy to get a 13 PAC members together and when it comes to the matters of 1MDB, all of them want to attend the meeting. So to get a date that is suitable for all of us, that is another logistical matter that we have deal with.

“The CEOs know the seriousness of attending PAC meetings, which is why they need more time to prepare themselves, especially in light of the new information that is coming up almost every few days,” he said, adding the next time PAC sets a date, the duo must attend.

He added that the public must realise that PAC had only started its investigation over a week ago, and interference from political leaders as well the people would more likely render its report less credible, especially as PAC members themselves were facing attacks on their credibility.

“You attack our credibility, you devalue the report. So let us do our job as thoroughly as possible.”