(Oct 26): Outspoken Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Tony Pua is unfazed over a proposal for an oath of secrecy to be taken by the bipartisan parliamentary panel, saying that he has not done anything that contravenes existing regulations.

This comes after the DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP and staunch 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) critic was accused by detractors of leaking confidential information on the troubled state-owned investment firm following a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on the firm.

"I don't know (about WSJ report). I only know that I have done nothing wrong, so I am not afraid," he told reporters at Parliament lobby after he was asked if the suggestion was mooted to shut him out.

Pua said he is not opposed to the oath of secrecy proposal, but stressed that parliamentary Standing Orders need to be amended before such a regulation can be implemented.

"There are no regulations in the Standing Order for it, so it needs to be amended," he added.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had proposed that members of the PAC take an oath of secrecy to prevent the leak of information related to its proceedings.

He had said the suggestion needed to be referred to the legal adviser to ascertain if it could be implemented.

WSJ had recently reported that a US$1.4 billion (RM6.02 billion) payment from 1MDB to a subsidiary of the International Petroleum Investment Co (Ipic), was missing. Ipic is a state investment vehicle of the United Arab Emirates.

1MDB had refuted the report and warned the US-based newspaper that it had possibly breached Malaysian laws by referring to "transcript of the proceedings", which it said, could only be presented at PAC hearings on 1MDB.

Former PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed had denied PAC members were behind the alleged leaks, and had urged speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to instead investigate Parliament staff.

Pandikar had distanced himself from such claims. – The Malaysian Insider