KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must proceed as planned with its investigation on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the Malaysian Bar said, insisting that no parliamentary rule dictates the probe should be delayed due to recent changes in its lineup.
In a statement, Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru disagreed with Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia who claimed earlier this week that the PAC must halt its probe until a new chairman is named as Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed’s replacement.
The Speaker had said that although Standing Orders 77(3) allows for an existing PAC member to be elected to chair the committee in the absence of its chairman or vice-chairman due to ill health or specific reasons, the provisions cannot be used when the post is vacated.
Steven said, however, that this is not the case because although there is no longer a chairman of the PAC, a vice-chairman still remains.
“Therefore, Standing Order 77(3) is not contravened, and the PAC can still function,” he said.
DAP’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw is PAC’s vice-chairman.
Steven also noted that although Standing Order 83(3) states that the quorum for the panel to meet is three members, including the chairman, the reference to “chairman” in this rule does not necessarily mean the chairman of the committee itself.
Explaining further, he said this is because Standing Order 77(3) states that the remaining members of the panel can proceed to meet so long as they elect a chairman from among their numbers to preside over the meeting.
“Therefore, there is no necessity for the chairman of the PAC himself or herself to be present at a PAC meeting in order for it to proceed.
“If the vice-chairman is present, he or she is fully able to act as chairman of the meeting, and the quorum requirement would be satisfied,” he said.
Steven said that it must also be noted that Standing Order 83(7) states that in the event of “the death or unavoidable absence of a member” of the panel, those in the committee “may... nominate another member of the [Dewan Rakyat]” to fill that vacancy and that this nomination shall be announced to the Dewan Rakyat at its next meeting.
This rule, he said, does not suggest that the panel should halt its proceedings pending the appointment of a member to fill that vacancy.
“It is therefore the spirit underlying the Standing Orders, that a Select Committee should be able to continue to function, notwithstanding any vacancies,” he said.
“It cannot be that the important work of Parliament could be brought to a grinding halt whenever there is a vacancy.
“If this were the case, the work of Parliament could easily be frustrated by merely engineering one or more vacancies in any Select Committee in order to prevent it from functioning,” the Malaysian Bar president added.
The status of the PAC’s inquiry was thrown into uncertainty following the Cabinet reshuffle earlier this week which saw the panel’s former chairman Nur Jazlan appointed to the post of deputy prime minister.
Nur Jazlan is among four PAC members who were brought into the federal administration by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the sudden reshuffle, which also saw the removal of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and several other critics of Putrajaya’s handling of the 1MDB fiasco.
PAC vice chairman Dr Tan, however, has since argued that the panel still has nine out of 13 members still on the committee, which fulfils the quorum for it to proceed with its work.
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.
