KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will begin investigating 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) on May 19. It will call treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah to give his statement. Confirming a report by The Malaysian Insider yesterday, PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general Datuk Seri Dr Rahmat Bivi Abdullah will give his statement to the committee on the same day.

“The following week, the PAC will also call on 1MDB chief executive officer (CEO) Arul Kanda Kandasamy and his predecessor Datuk Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi, who served the company from March 2009 until March 2013,” Nur Jazlan said in a statement yesterday.

He said the PAC members were unanimous in their decision to begin proceedings over the debt-ridden state investment firm in a special meeting held on April 30.

“During this meeting, all PAC members, including eight parliamentarians from Barisan Nasional and five from the opposition, were unanimous in calling for all members involved in the management of 1MDB since it was set up in 2009,” Nur Jazlan said.

The PAC, the Pulai MP said, could not wait for the auditor-general’s report on the troubled company as there is too much speculation by the public over the investment firm’s financial standing. A source had said the PAC would not stop at calling the current and former CEOs of the fund, but would also call Bank Negara Malaysia and auditors KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.

“Definitely, 1MDB board of directors chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and former chairman Tan Sri Bakke Salleh will also be summoned, as well as Lembaga Tabung Haji’s group managing director Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, who has been a member of 1MDB’s board since the company’s inception in 2009,” said the source.

Yesterday, Nur Jazlan said the letters were sent on May 6 and that the PAC had received a response from the EPU last Friday, saying it had nothing to do with 1MDB’s management.

“However, the PAC still wants EPU to attend to give its testimony in front of the committee as they previously attended twice to explain the company’s investments, besides being responsible for the development of the Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia,” he said.

“We resent the letter to EPU today (yesterday), to ensure that they attend on May 19 with the Finance Ministry to begin proceedings,” he said, adding that the PAC had not set a time limit for the proceedings but would investigate all issues raised. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 12, 2015.