KUALA LUMPUR: There is no need for former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be questioned by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) about 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as he has nothing to do with the firm, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar.

Commenting on former minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah’s suggestion that the PAC should call Dr Mahathir to attend its hearing on the debt-laden 1MDB, the youth and sports minister said anyone called to attend the proceedings must have links with the state-owned investment arm.

“Those who are called must be linked with proceeding issues. For instance, the suggestion to call Dr Mahathir. Dr Mahathir has nothing to do with 1MDB.

“PAC can only call whoever is involved with 1MDB,” he said at an event in Serdang, Selangor, yesterday.

Saifuddin on Saturday said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Dr Mahathir should both attend the PAC hearing on 1MDB which could be telecasted live.

Saifuddin said the PAC hearing would be the best way to answer questions surrounding 1MDB.

Khairy said no third party could resolve the 1MDB crisis and believed that if it involved Dr Mahathir and Najib, it was better to be solved personally.

“No third party can solve this crisis. I think if a discussion is held between Dr Mahathir and Najib, they can meet personally, no need for third party.”

On Saifuddin’s suggestion that the PAC hearing be televised live, Khairy said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek once proposed that PAC proceedings be televised.

“The decision lies with the Dewan Rakyat speaker. He has to agree or else we can’t do it because it is under Parliament,” he said.

He refused to comment on the claim by organisers of last Friday’s 1MDB forum that Najib’s no-show was the work of one of the PM’s aides whom they accused of sabotaging the event.

“I’m not sure who that referred to. So I can’t comment,” added Khairy.

SukaGuam president Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat said it is believed that the organisers would not be blamed for the episode that left Najib red-faced, if the aide and his people had not “excessively interfered with the programme”.

Najib was scheduled to attend the highly anticipated forum but backed out on the advice of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who ordered the forum be cancelled on the grounds of “public order and national harmony”. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 8, 2015.