KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 ― Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will continue its investigation on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw said, rubbishing claims the inquiry is frozen after several committee members were appointed to Cabinet or made deputy ministers.

Dr Tan said the bipartisan PAC still meets the quorum as there are nine members left, after PAC chairman Nur Jazlan Mohamed and three PAC members from Barisan Nasional (BN) were appointed a minister and deputy ministers.

“To say that (because) three people are appointed, the PAC has to stop ― it's unacceptable because the Standing Orders say you carry on,” the DAP opposition lawmaker told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday following the sudden Cabinet reshuffle.

Article 77(2) of the Parliament Standing Orders states that the PAC must have at least six members.

“Why should you delay from August to October? Must be joking,” he added, referring to the next Parliament session that is scheduled to start on October 19.

Jazlan, who is stepping down as PAC chairman after being appointed deputy home minister, told Malay Mail Online yesterday that the PAC’s 1MDB probe would be suspended until the next Parliament sitting when the new PAC chief is appointed.

He said three other BN lawmakers who were appointed deputy ministers and minister ― Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (deputy foreign affairs minister), Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (deputy tourism and culture minister) and Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau (science, technology & innovation minister) ― must also vacate their positions in the PAC.

Without them, the PAC will comprise five opposition MPs, including Dr Tan, and four BN MPs.

Article 77(4) of the Parliament Standing Orders states that no one shall act as PAC chairman or member while being a minister. It is unclear if the rule also applies to deputy ministers.

DAP lawmaker Tony Pua, who is also a member of the PAC, said on Facebook that the PAC will ensure that investigations on 1MDB, a state-owned fund that has a huge debt burden of RM42 billion, continue uninterrupted.

“Here's looking forward to finally getting to grill Arul Kanda come 4 August 2015,” he wrote, referring to 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Pua told Malay Mail Online that Dr Tan will lead the 1MDB investigation as vice-chairman in Jazlan’s absence.

“That’s why we have vice-chair right?” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

Besides planning to question Arul Kanda and his predecessor Datuk Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi, the PAC was set to call up in September businessman Jho Low, several other 1MDB executives and directors of the company’s subsidiaries, as well as to recall 1MDB’s then-auditors Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young, to answer discrepancies raised by the Auditor-General’s interim report on the state-owned firm.

The Cabinet reshuffle was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is under pressure to resign over the 1MDB controversy.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin lost his deputy prime minister post to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Four others were also axed from their ministerial positions in the Cabinet shake-up seen as a move to shore up Najib’s leadership in government.