(June 3): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must ensure the auditor-general's (A-G) office reports directly to Parliament to guarantee its independence, said DAP following former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's doubts on the department’s impartiality.

National publicity secretary Tony Pua said Najib needed to restore the credibility of the A-G’s office by taking immediate steps to make it an independent entity which does not report back to or take instructions from the Finance Ministry or the prime minister himself.

Instead, the A-G’s office should act on behalf of the Parliament, he said.

"The only way to redeem the independence, credibility and reputation of the auditor-general’s office is to unchain the office from the Finance Ministry.

"The A-G’s office should report directly to Parliament like all other modern and progressive democracies," he said in a statement, citing the United Kingdom's National Audit Office as an example.

Currently, the A-G's office is a department under the auspices of the Finance Ministry, which Najib heads as finance minister.

Dr Mahathir said two days ago that he was placing his trust more in Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) than the A-G to get to the bottom of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

He said this was because the PAC could look into the troubled state investment arm’s background and ask the pertinent questions regarding the funds that could not be accounted for.

“I would place my faith in the PAC more than the A-G. The A-G inspects books. They don’t do forensic auditing, they don’t try to poke and find out where was this money spent, how was this money spent, where did you lose this money.

“They only check on the books so they will not discover much because the people who are keeping the books may be very clever people,” the statesman had said.

Pua said Dr Mahathir's lack of confidence in the A-G's office to uncover 1MDB's problems had "significantly" dented its credibility and reputation, which had been relatively positive due to the wastage and leakage it had uncovered during the annual A-G reports.

"While the A-G has conducted his duties commendably when auditing the various government departments, there is a serious concern over the A-G’s independence when auditing 1MDB. This is because the A-G has to report to the finance minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the prime minister," he said.

Criticism has been mounting over the Finance Ministry wholly-owned investment vehicle, established in 2009, which has chalked up debts of up to RM42 billion, backed by Putrajaya.

Scrutiny has grown more intense following whistleblower site Sarawak Report's recent exposes, which piled pressure on Najib and prompted opposition politicians, former and current Umno leaders including long serving former prime minister Dr Mahathir and anti-graft bodies to demand a thorough investigation into the fund.

The A-G is currently looking through 1MDB's books, with a preliminary report expected to be submitted to the Parliament in June, while Parliament's PAC started its investigation into the company two weeks ago. – The Malaysian Insider