Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The past and present chief executives of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) scheduled questionings with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the latter’s probe into the strategic investment fund have been postponed indefinitely.

In a statement yesterday, 1MDB said it had received an official notification — through the Ministry of Finance (MoF) — from the Secretariat of Dewan Rakyat/Setiausaha Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara that the PAC hearings scheduled on Aug 4 to 6, Aug 17 and 18, as well as Sept 8 and 10, 2015, have been postponed “to a date to be determined later”.

Former 1MDB chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, who served from Feb 2009 to March 2013, was initially scheduled to appear before the PAC on Aug 4. He was to be followed by president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy, appointed in January this year (Aug 5), then Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, who served as 1MDB’s managing director cum CEO from March 2013 to January 2015 (Aug 6).

There was a public outcry when Arul and Shahrol skipped their last PAC hearing in May to attend to matters overseas, with Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah later attributing Arul’s absence to prior appointments set up to help secure financing for the cash-strapped 1MDB to meet its debt obligations.

Both Arul and Shahrol are key witnesses in the PAC’s inquiry into the MoF-owned 1MDB, which has incurred RM49 billion in debts in just six years of operation.The duo was later given a six to seven-week notice for their August hearings, which the PAC had said at the time would give them no excuse to be absent again.

“We once again reiterate our intention to extend our full cooperation to the PAC and look forward to appearing before the committee on the new dates,” 1MDB said in its statement yesterday. It added that it respects the PAC as the lawful authority and the appropriate forum for questions on 1MDB to be asked and answered.

“We have confidence that the bipartisan committee presents a fair opportunity for 1MDB to explain the company’s position to a lawful authority, per the requirements of due process,” 1MDB said.

Following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet reshuffle last week, which saw then PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and three other members either appointed to the Cabinet or made deputy ministers last week, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had decreed that the PAC probe into 1MDB could not resume until a new chairperson is elected.

Pandikar said that although Meeting Order 77(3) allows a PAC member to be nominated to chair the committee meeting, it is only if the chairperson or his deputy is unable to attend. The order, Pandikar cited, could not be used if the chairman himself has to vacate his chair in the committee, reported Barisan Nasional backbenchers club news portal BNBBC.my.

Meanwhile, PAC vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw told the Malay Mail Online yesterday that Parliament had officially sent notices to halt all scheduled PAC hearings on 1MDB for the entire month of August. He said he had received the notice via fax and was also informed by phone on Saturday.

“With all due respect, you are informed that the PAC meetings scheduled on the dates below have been postponed,” Tan reportedly said when contacted over the phone, reading aloud from the brief notice written in Bahasa Malaysia.

The dates mentioned in the notice were Aug 4 to 6, as well as Aug 17 and 18. No reasons were given for the suspension, he said. The notice was given just a day after opposition members of the bipartisan PAC rubbished claims that the inquiry was frozen after the Cabinet reshuffle last week which resulted in the committee losing Nur Jazlan and the three other members. Tan said that the PAC still met the quorum as there were nine members left.

Earlier yesterday, Tan also issued a statement pledging that the inquiry into 1MDB would continue today, regardless of the fact that the committee had lost the four members.

Tan said it was “unreasonable” to suspend the probe for three months — as Parliament reconvenes only in October — in order to elect a new PAC chairman and members.

But Tan was later reported as saying that it would not be possible for the PAC to now hold the proceedings as all the doors would be locked today.

There will instead be a press conference by Tan, “together with other PAC members”, on 1MDB proceedings at 11am today, according to a media notice sent out by fellow PAC member and opposition lawmaker Tony Pua’s office yesterday.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on August 4, 2015.

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