KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — It is not the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) fault that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy only received the notice to attend yesterday’s hearing two weeks after it was delivered, the panel’s chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad said today.

Looking visibly annoyed, Nur Jazlan told a press conference in the Parliament building that the invitation for the May 26 hearing had been sent to the Finance Ministry on May 6.

“We sent it on May 6, we called them on May 26. That’s 20 days, which is more than the 14 days required.

“If the MOF informed them late then it is not our fault.

Nur Jazlan said that the confusion between the ministry and 1MDB had only caused more problem for the PAC.

“We are not trying to delay this proceeding. We already mentioned that the witnesses will be called in the order in the priority that we want to call them.

“After we call the auditors, we can call the chief executives back again, but there’s no more delay hereafter,” he said in a press conference today.

Nur Jazlan said 1MDB’s auditors Deloitte and KPMG will be called in on June 10 and June 17 respectively, after which Arul Kanda and his predecessor Datuk Shahrol Ibrahim Halmi will be ordered to appear again.

In a statement yesterday, Arul Kanda explained that the invitation, which was addressed to ministry, was only received by 1MDB on May 21.

“Upon receiving this letter, 1MDB responded to the Ministry of Finance on 21 May 2015, the same day the company received the invitation,” he said.

He then reiterated his and Shahrol’s commitment to cooperate with the panel’s investigation.

It was previously reported that both men were notified of the hearing weeks prior but chose only to inform the panel at the last minute that they were engaged with overseas assignments.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has pledged that 1MDB’s officials will not run away from the PAC probe, saying Arul and Shahrol’s absence yesterday was because they  “have something to sort out first”.

Their failure to appear before the PAC continues to draw criticism from lawmakers and corporate figures including Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, the chairman of CIMB Group and Najib’s brother.

The Auditor-General and Parliament’s PAC are currently investigating 1MDB, a state-owned firm that has reportedly amassed debts of some RM42 billion in just six years since it was incorporated in 2009.