Kit Siang: Is attack on PAC member’s credibility prelude to boycott by 1MDB chief?

(Malay Mail Online) – Lim Kit Siang today questioned calls for Tony Pua to quit the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the latter’s open criticism of troubled 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), claiming that it could end up being used as an excuse by the debt-ridden firm’s top executives to skip out on scheduled hearings before the PAC.

Lim queried if 1MDB group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and the firm’s former CEO Datuk Shahrol Halmi will be walking out of and boycotting the PAC hearings on 1MDB, based on Pua’s PAC membership and alleged “biased” stance.

He went on to suggest that such a scenario would be an “excellent precedent” for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to not appear before the PAC inquiry on 1MDB despite his role as the final approving authority for 1MDB, due to the panel’s alleged biased nature.

“Why is 1MDB and Shafee (and of course their principal Najib) so afraid of Tony Pua’s membership of PAC to inquire into the 1MDB scandal, if 1MDB is a sterling example of Najib’s administration “Nothing2Hide” philosophy?” the DAP parliamentary leader said in a statement.

Lim said he had thought of the scenario of the PAC hearing boycotts when Umno-linked lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah called for Pua’s withdrawal from the PAC.

He also expressed surprise over Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club chairman and ex-PAC chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad’s support for Shafee’s call for Pua’s resignation from the PAC.

Pointing out that the bipartisan PAC is appointed by Parliament to examine public accounts and submit it to Parliament, Lim questioned if Shahrir was suggesting that lawmakers with critical views of 1MDB should not join in any parliamentary debates on the PAC report on the firm.

“If not, what is the basis for the demand for Tony Pua to be removed from the PAC’s 1MDB hearing, when the PAC is neither judge, jury nor prosecutor, but a committee of Parliament to investigate and report on the 1MDB scandal?” he asked.

Lim said 1MDB, Najib, Shafee should welcome other lawmakers “like Tony Pua who have strong views but not a closed mind on 1MDB scandal”, such as PKR MP Rafizi Ramli as “guest PAC members” to show that 1MDB has nothing to hide and is capable of winning over doubting MPs with facts and figures.

“What is the use of having a PAC stuffed with ‘Yes Men’ on the 1MDB scandal whose finding would have no credibility whatsoever?” he said.

On Friday, Pua accused Shafee of leading an insidious campaign for his removal from the PAC in a bid to muzzle him on 1MDB, claiming that both Shafee and Sharir were unjustified in alleging that his statements on 1MDB based on his own research would jeopardise an independent investigation by the PAC.

Pua questioned if the bid to remove him was to prevent 1MDB’s top management from facing an “intense grilling”. Both Arul and Shahrol could not make it for a hearing before the PAC last month, and will be quizzed separately on August 4 and 5 respectively.

1MDB is currently under investigation by the PAC and three federal agencies for alleged mismanagement.