Up to Speaker if PAC can continue, says committee member

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — The status of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and its probe on 1Malaysia Development Berhad(1MDB) following the exit of four Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs must be decided by the Speaker, a member from the committee claimed today.

Kulim MP Datuk Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir said this was because the PAC was now without a chairman as Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed has resigned owing to his appointment as deputy home minister.

“I’m just waiting for a ruling from the Speaker on the chairman post as it has been vacated. Whether is it possible for us to proceed with procedures.

“The issue now is with the chairmanship. As the chairman is no more there, a new appointment of the chairman and deity must be made during the next parliament sitting,” he told reporters when met outside former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s residence.

The continuity of the PAC’s probe on 1MDB has been surrounded by confusion following contradicting claims by rival lawmakers.

Nur Jazlan and Deputy Speaker Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee have both said that the PAC’s investigations will be suspended pending the appointment of a new chairman while DAP’s Tan Seng Giaw, who is PAC vice-chair, and Tony Pua both insisted that the hearings will continue.

Abdul Aziz added today that he was unsure what would transpire in the next PAC sitting, saying it was possible that he would no longer be a member of the committee.

“I’m not sure but we will wait see. It is up to the Speaker if PAC will be able to continue following the clauses set in Parliament,” he said.

On Tuesday, four PAC members were appointed as new members of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration in a Cabinet reshuffle, which say the removal of Muhyiddin as deputy prime minister.

Prior to the appointments, the PAC had scheduled August 4 and 5 to question 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy and his predecessor, Datuk Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi as part of their investigation into the state-owned firm’s dealings.

The committee also planned to recall 1MDB’s then-auditors Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young along with several other 1MDB executives and directors of the company’s subsidiaries for further questioning in September to answer discrepancies raised by the Auditor-General’s interim report on the firm.