Tony Pua questions PetroSaudi’s letter on Good Star ownership

(MMO) – DAP MP Tony Pua demanded today Datuk Hasan Arifin publicly disclose his “intelligence grade” information on the ownership of Good Star Limited, the company said to have received US$1.03 billion (RM 4.2 billion) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The opposition member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) noted with incredulity its chief’s remarks yesterday that the parliamentary watchdog could not verify information received from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) as it is not an intelligence agency.

“This must be the most gravity-defying acrobatic twist of logic from the Chairman who was only appointed to lead the committee in October last year.  An ‘intelligence grade’ piece of information does not require an intelligence agency to make use of the intelligence reports.

“On the contrary, the ‘intelligence grade’ information should be taken as the likely truth unless otherwise proven because it was intelligence received from Bank Negara’s counterparts in foreign countries,” Pua said in a statement.

He further expressed scepticism over Hasan’s “face value” acceptance of what he claimed to be an unsupported letter from energy firm PetroSaudi International acknowledging Good Star as its subsidiary.

“We don’t even know if the letter provided by 1MDB is genuine! Is he claiming that Bank Negara far less trustworthy than 1MDB, the very company the PAC is tasked to investigate?” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP asked.

He claimed Hasan had omitted to mention that BNM had allowed the PAC to publish the information in its letter on the condition that “approval from the foreign regulatory authorities be obtained via Bank Negara in advance”.

Such information would help PAC dig deeper into 1MDB by providing it with strong grounds to summon controversial Penang tycoon Low Taek Jho to testify before it, Pua said.

He repudiated Hasan’s claim for not sharing the BNM letter by saying it was addressed to him in confidence.

Pua asserted that the contents of the central bank letter repeatedly made reference to the information “provided to the PAC” and not personally to its chief and mockingly said the PAC chief’s remarks showed him to be “either a complete illiterate who could not read and understand basic Bahasa Malaysia” or someone who is “abusing his position”.

The DAP national publicity secretary reiterated his party’s call for Hasan to resign as PAC chief.