Friday 29 Mar 2024
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(Nov 3): The debate on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) should be allowed to go on without any conditions, said Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

The former minister who was axed from the Cabinet last July over his criticism of the troubled firm said the debate, between DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara federal lawmaker Tony Pua and 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy, should be allowed in view of public interest.

"We need this debate because there is a huge possibility we can get information. I feel it's not appropriate to set conditions, there should not be any conditions for any parties.

"Just because he is a PAC member, we should not put any conditions on him," he said in reference to Pua.

"What's important is for the public at large to be able to hear the truth, so I think it's not wise for us to impose (conditions) on the debate," Shafie said at the Parliament lobby today.

Earlier this morning, speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruled that Pua needed to quit PAC if he wanted to proceed with the debate with Arul Kanda as participating in the debate would make the DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP a “prosecutor”, not “investigator”, and thus, eroded PAC’s credibility.

Citing Pandikar's ruling, PAC chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin had issued a gag order against Pua, saying that the staunch critic of the state investment firm can no longer talk or make any statements about 1MDB.

Shafie said no one should be unduly worried about the debate if it was aimed at unearthing the truth.

"If the investigation is related to the truth, then what's the problem? We should not be worried if we are looking for the truth," said the Semporna federal lawmaker. – The Malaysian Insider

 

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