PAC's inaction on major controversies under fire

The Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) silence on its probes in major controversies involving almost RM9 billion of government funds, has raised suspicions that there are “cover-up” orders in place, said opposition parliamentarians.

They said today that PAC had deferred meetings for the last three months although it has yet to delve into, among others, the highly secretive out-of-court settlement between former Malaysia Airlines boss Tajudin Ramli (right) and Pengurusan Danaharta Bhd and the doubled costs of the new permanent low-cost carrier terminal in Sepang (KLIA2).

Although the powerful parliamentary committee had reached a consensus on investigating these cases last year, it had also merely touched the surface on its probes into the alleged misappropriation of the RM250 million loan given to National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) cattle project and 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s ‘dubious’ investment in PetroSaudi International, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua during a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

Pua recalled that when the PAC was probing the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, meetings were called “almost every week, even when Parliament was not in session”.

Tumpat PAS MP Kamaruddin Jaafar (left) added that the PAC has not even got to the bottom of the past expenditures and the government has already tabled an additional expenditure of RM13.7 billion for this year’s budget.

PAC deputy chairperson Tan Seng Giaw, who is also the Kepong DAP MP, said they had written to panel chief Azmi Khalid today, reminding him that the committee had agreed on March 5 to haul up the civil servants and government-linked companies to discuss the four issues.

“We are very disappointed as no meetings were called to discuss the issues even after three months. Moreover, the PAC did not even receive the official documents requested from 1MDB,” said the letter signed by the opposition members.

They had raised similar concerns in April when Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia “advised” against PAC continuing its inquiry into cases that are in court, including NFC and other suits linked to Tajudin.

BN parliamentarians, including de facto Law Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, are also opposed to having the two issues discussed further, saying this could amount to being sub-judice.

However, the Pakatan MPs had reiterated that PAC's probe into issues will not be not “sub-judice”, as the committee would only question government agencies on the disbursement of funds.