PAC deputy chair: No proof yet of who leaked 1MDB info to WSJ
(Malay Mail Online) – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cannot act hastily as it has yet to be proven that any of its members leaked information from its hearings on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), deputy chairman Tan Seng Giaw has said.
“Now, anybody can be a suspect in the issue of this information leak. If there is a meeting or a session, it involves many people. There has to be proof,” he was quoted saying by Utusan Malaysia.
Responding to allegations of PAC member Tony Pua’s purported link to the information leak, Tan said the latter could speak to the bipartisan committee when it reconvenes after October with a full panel.
On Wednesday, WSJ ran a report claiming that the United Arab Emirates has raised questions on a US$1.4 billion (RM6.1 billion) payment from state investment firm 1MDB, which allegedly never reached the country’s state investment fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).
1MDB has since denied the report, insisting that its records show the payments were made.
It also stressed that the fact that WSJ cited in its report “transcripts of the proceedings” of a Malaysian parliamentary committee investigating the firm raises concerns that due process is being undermined, as the PAC is the only parliamentary panel probing the company’s finances.
The firm argued that parliamentary Standing Orders clearly state that any information presented before a parliamentary committee cannot be published until after it presents its report to the Dewan Rakyat.
On Thursday, former PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed urged Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to launch a probe on Parliament staff over the alleged information leak, saying that none of PAC’s members would have had access to the official transcripts or the hansard of the committee’s last meeting where IPIC was mentioned.
Yesterday, Pandikar denied that Parliament staff was behind the alleged information leak, suggesting it was not possible as the one probing the case is the PAC.
