KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed denied today that he had cleared former Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Shabery Cheek from any wrongdoing in the government’s recent sponsorship of a “K-pop” concert.

The Umno MP said instead that he had merely said the explanation given by Shabery, now the Communications and Multimedia Minister, was “satisfactory” and that he never used the word “cleared”.

“I never said cleared. All I said was that his explanation was satisfactory,” he told a press conference after holding a PAC meeting in Parliament here.

Nur Jazlan, however, did not explain why he said that all PAC members were satisfied with Shabery’s explanation which was allegedly not the case, according to an opposition panel member Tony Pua.

Nur Jazlan had also said that PAC found no element of wrongdoing or discrepancy in Shabery’s decision to fund the K-pop concert despite not using the word “cleared”.

“No there was no element of discrepancy of wrongdoing,” the Pulai MP was reported to have said.

Pua, in a posting on his Facebook immediately after the matter was reported in the media last Thursday, said the PAC had not reached such conclusion and revealed that the committee was still waiting for more documents for further scrutiny.

The Auditor-General’s Report 2012 had revealed that the Youth and Sports Ministry paid RM1.6 million to bring three K-pop groups to Malaysia for the celebration.

The revelation sparked uproar among many opposition lawmakers as the concert was originally meant to be funded by private sponsors.

However, the sponsorship deal purportedly fell through, forcing the ministry to finance the concert from its own coffers.

Nur Jazlan said after Shabery’s explanation, the matter was only a case of differing opinions.

“There is a difference in opinion between the minister and the audit department,” he said, adding that details of Shabery’s explanation can only be revealed when the report is finalised.

But Nur Jazlan’s claim that all members of the committee were satisfied with Shabery’s explanation, appeared to be refuted by Pua, his fellow panel member.

It is also learned that some Barisan Nasional (BN) committee members were dissatisfied with several other issues concerning the ministry, including the disbursement mechanism of funds for events.

A source close to the committee said Shabery did not convince the panel with his explanation.

Shabery’s explanation also did not explain the contradiction in the youth and sports ministry’s written reply to Pua a few weeks ago where it was said that the ministry was forced to cough up its own money after sponsors had “backed out at the last minute”.

Speaking to reporters earlier today, Shabery claimed the sponsorship materialised but admitted that his former ministry had to fork out the money first due to the deposits required to book the bands and other logistical payment.

“We had to pay the artistes and make other bookings. So we used the ministry’s money first and the cash sponsorship we received was more than what was spent,” he said.

He claimed the sponsorship totalled RM2.3 million and RM1.6 million was spent for the festival.

From the RM1.6 million, RM900,000 was paid to the three K-Pop groups as fee and the rest was for their flight tickets, hotel, food, work permit and entertainment tax.

Pua had previously called on the present Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to name, shame and sue the companies involved.

In a written reply on October 21, Khairy said the marketing and sponsorship department had initially got verbal confirmations from the companies to sponsor the concert at the 2012 National Youth Day celebration but had pulled out at the last minute.

He said the ministry cannot take any action against the companies because the sponsorship was based on corporate social responsibility.

The first-term minister also said that the decision to hold the K-Pop concert was made collectively by a committee, approved by the ministry.