KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua today questioned whether Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin was hiding the letter from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to PAC members, which exposed that the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Ltd was businessman Low Taek Jho.

"Together with my opposition colleagues in the PAC, we have repeatedly requested that representatives from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) be summoned to testify with regards to the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal," Pua said in a statement today.

He said this was especially since BNM had openly indicted 1MDB for breaching the Financial Services and Exchange Controls Act.

BNM has further demanded that 1MDB repatriate US$1.83 billion, the sum which was deemed to have been improperly transferred overseas.

"It could not have been clearer that BNM was in possession of critical information which was integral to PAC’s investigation into 1MDB," said Pua.

However, he said Hassan repeatedly refused to summon BNM, claiming that the Attorney-General has already acquitted 1MDB and any information from BNM will be irrelevant.

"The chairman finally decided to write to BNM to seek written clarification in lieu of an official testimony.

"The PAC has received the first letter from BNM dated March 23, which was presented to the members by the chairman on April 4," he added.

The letter, according to Pua, had explained in detail the breaches by 1MDB and at the same time, disclosed that the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Ltd, a company which received a whopping US$1.03 billion from 1MDB, was “an individual unrelated to Petrosaudi International Ltd”.

Subsequently, he said the members of the PAC had requested that the chairman write to BNM again to seek further clarification with regards to this mysterious owner of Good Star Ltd.

Pua said the crucial disclosure was also included in the final approved PAC Report on 1MDB, but was surreptitiously deleted by Hasan from the version tabled to the Parliament.

"When PAC members demanded to know why the chairman unilaterally deleted the above information from the report without consulting the members of the committee on May 18, we were shocked to discover that the chairman has already received a response from BNM on April 6.

"Hasan claimed that the previously undisclosed second letter noted that the information provided by BNM was privileged, and hence he took the unilateral step to delete the relevant sentences from the finalised Report," Pua alleged.

Pua said the incident has became an absolute farce, when the chairman refused to even disclose the number of pages of the BNM letter, backed by PAC members from Barisan Nasional.

"This has led the opposition members in the PAC to believe that the chairman is blatantly hiding and obstructing the investigations into the shenanigans which took place in 1MDB. In fact, I will go further to suggest that Hasan is intentionally covering up for 1MDB and the Prime Minister, because Bank Negara confirmed what the whole world already suspected, that Low Taek Jho or better known as Jho Low is the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Ltd," he added.

Hence, Pua has called upon Hasan to confirm or deny whether Jho Low is indeed the sole shareholder of Good Star Ltd.

"If Bank Negara did indeed name and confirm Jho Low, then the PAC chairman must immediately resign from his position for failing to uphold the integrity of the Parliament and for clear cut obstruction of justice to thwart an independent and transparent investigation into the single largest scandal in the of Malaysia," he added.