KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Gerakan Youth today condemned the current and former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executives for skipping today’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing, saying their absence would would lead to further speculation on the firm’s allegedly dubious deals.

Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang added that it was “absurd” for 1MDB chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former CEO Datuk Shahrol Ibrahim Halmi to seek the one month extension from the PAC as it would worsen public’s perception about the state-owned firm

“The request of 30 days extension is absurd. Besides the possibility of causing delay of the outcome of the PAC hearing, their failure will likely cause more public speculation as to why they fail to attend the PAC hearing today,” Tan said in a statement today.

He “With due respect to both the top officials, 1MDB is currently subject of public concerns.

“As the current and former top official of 1MDB, both of them should place priority in attending the PAC hearing today,” he said.

Tan also said that 1MDB has had ample opportunity to explain away its RM42 billion debt and several land deals, including one with Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) which has drawn severe backlash, but said the company had taken those opportunities for granted.

He said that 1MDB should “stop testing the patience of Malaysia” as it would only worsen its image in the eyes of the public.

Arul and Shahrol’s absence at today’s hearing has also drawn flak from opposition leaders, including PKR’s Rafizi Ramli who has called for their resignation and DAP’s Lim Kit Siang who questioned if finance minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak allowed them to “ponteng” (play truant).

Yesterday, it was confirmed that Arul Kanda and Shahrol would not be able to attend today’s scheduled hearing on the debt-laden 1MDB due to prior commitments abroad.

In a statement to explain the matter, Arul Kanda said both he and Shahrol will meet with the parliamentary panel at a later date.

1MDB has become a major sticking point for Najib, who has come under intense pressure over the past few months over allegations of mismanagement of the state-owned fund that led to it racking up some RM42 billion in debt from the time it was incorporated in 2009.

Last week, second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said 1MDB’s US$1.103 billion (RM3.9 billion) redeemed from a Cayman Islands account and parked in Singapore’s BSI Bank was in the form of assets and not cash, as previously claimed by Arul Kanda.

Apart from the PAC, the Auditor-General is also conducting a probe on 1MDB and is expected to deliver a report to Putrajaya early next month.