New PAC chief to ‘look into’ Tony Pua’s membership

(Malay Mail Online) – The newly-appointed Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Datuk Hasan Arifin said today that the inclusion of DAP’s Tony Pua in the PAC will be re-examined once the committee reconvenes.

The Rompin MP added that he could not “judge” if Pua should stay in the PAC or otherwise, but said that the matter will be discussed when the committee next meets during this parliamentary meeting.

“First meeting we’ll discuss about it. I cannot judge about the perception given by some, some even from BN, so first meeting we’ll look into this,” he said at a news conference at the Dewan Rakyat lobby today.

Hasan said the first PAC meeting will be sometime during the ongoing Parliamentary sitting, but stopped short of giving an exact date.

“We don’t want to say when but after the appointment, I will call for it,” he said, referring to the appointment of the other PAC members.

He also would not say if state-owned 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) would be a priority for him as the PAC chief, saying instead that everything that is to do with the country’s finances was a priority.

Hasan was officially appointed the new PAC chief today, replacing Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed who was appointed deputy home minister in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.

The PAC had been investigating 1MDB until Nur Jazlan and three other members were made part of the federal administration in July.

Its inquiry was then suspended after Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruled that the committee could not proceed until a new chairman is appointed.