(Oct 28): The new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should resolve at its first meeting on Monday to uncover the truth behind the alleged draft corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP parliamentary leader said this could be achieved by summoning former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, whom whistle-blower site Sarawak Report had alleged was drafting the charge sheet before he was removed from the post in July.

Lim said PAC should also summon former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador, as he had admitted to meeting Gani two days before he was sacked.

“The question whether there is a draft corruption charge against Najib in connection with the 1MDB scandal in the Attorney-General’s Chambers and whether this was the real reason for the sacking of Gani as Attorney-General, is an important issue which the Public Accounts Committee must establish if its 1MDB investigations are going to command credibility, not only in Malaysia but also in international circles,” said Lim in a statement.

He said the alleged draft charge sheet was once again a matter of national interests, in the wake of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) statement on it last Thursday.

“The MACC statement, which had said that it was not investigating 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) as it was a police matter, stressed that it never denied the authenticity of a flow diagram published by Malaysiakini on the money trail involving SRC International or that it had denied the authenticity of a draft charge sheet against the prime minister.

“The question that jumps out of the MACC statement is whether there was a draft charge sheet in the Attorney-General’s Chambers against the prime minister related to corruption before Gani was sacked as Attorney-General on July 27?”

But the suspended Gelang Patah MP said before conducting the hearings, PAC on Monday must establish which of its members had benefited from the RM2.6 billion donation Najib had received.

Citing Dewan Rayat Standing Order 35(6), Lim said it was a “violation of parliamentary privilege” for a PAC member to be involved in investigating 1MDB or the RM2.6 billion donation, as he or she would have “pecuniary interest” in the two cases.

Datuk Hasan Arifin was appointed the new chairman of the PAC, replacing Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed who was appointed to the Cabinet in July.

Four other Barisan Nasional lawmakers from the previous committee also joined the Cabinet, and were all replaced with new appointments that were finalised yesterday, with one of the new members being PAS.

They were in the midst of probing into the 1MDB scandal when they were promoted to the Cabinet.

They were replaced by Putatan MP Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh, Jasin MP Datuk Ahmad Hamzah, Langkawi MP Datuk Nawawi Ahmad, and Alor Gajah MP Datuk Koh Nai Kwong from BN.

Kota Baru MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan was also appointed as a new PAS representative in the bipartisan committee, which would resume sitting with 14 members. – The Malaysian Insider