KUALA LUMPUR (May 27): Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Tony Pua has called for the resignation of PAC chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin for allegedly lying to the parliamentary panel.

The call follows revelations made by The Wall Street Journal on the contents of a Bank Negara Malaysia letter stating that Good Star Ltd was owned by businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.

Pua said Hasan should resign for allegedly lying to the committee, suppressing evidence, covering up wrong-doings and obstructing investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

"It cannot be clearer that Datuk Hasan Arifin has been nominated by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional to hamper and cover up the investigations into 1MDB," the opposition lawmaker said in a statement.

"The PAC chairman has denigrated his parliamentary position to become a tool to help the crooks who stole billions of dollars of Malaysian tax-payers' money," he added.

Hasan had previously cited the letter as justification for his unilateral deletion of two paragraphs from the parliamentary watchdog's report on 1MDB.

Pua said the Bank Negara letter, if taken into consideration by the auditor-general and the PAC, would have made the PAC report even more devastating as fraud, while previously suspected, would have been confirmed.

"In fact, had Datuk Hasan Arifin shared the Bank Negara letter with the PAC members, a whole new front of investigations would have been opened, including summoning Jho Low to testify before the PAC," he said.

"Instead, he lied to the PAC members claiming that the Bank Negara letter was intended for his eyes only.

"This was despite the letter clearly making reference to the information being provided to the PAC for deliberations," he added.

Accusing Hasan of obstructing the parliamentary investigation into 1MDB, Pua said Hasan's position as the PAC chairman is no longer tenable as Malaysians "can no longer trust him to carry out his role honestly, professionally and with integrity".

"We now call upon Hasan to resign as the chairman of the PAC because he has brought disrepute to the committee and disgraced the Parliament," he added.

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal had published a copy of a letter said to be from Bank Negara and addressed to Hasan, in which the central bank noted that Jho Low owned Good Star Ltd — a now-dissolved company that had been the recipient of funds from 1MDB.