KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was “pathetic” as did not include the full details of the controversy or directly implicate any parties for wrongdoing, two civil activists said today.
National Human Rights Society (HAKAM) chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan further criticised the committee for not insisting that the Auditor-General’s report be declassified and appended with its own findings.
“(PAC) should fight, why should the AG report be embargoed? All AG reports every year have been coming out,” she said.
She added that it was disappointing that no official was found to have committed wrongdoings despite the information that was already in public domain.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah was caustic in her evaluation of the report, saying that the committee neglected to confront the topics that it should have addressed during its investigations.
“I think it was a pathetic report. It’s not answering all the key questions that they’re supposed to answer which is, where does all the money come from? Because the PAC actually mentions that they have actually made a mistake over the investment and borrowing.
She pointed out that it did not explain how 1MDB’s debt obligation has increased despite the steps taken to rationalise these, saying it was “mind-boggling” that the state investment firm owed RM50 billion.
“A proper investigation has to be done again, independently,” she said.
PAC released its much-anticipated final report on the troubled state investment arm earlier today after almost a year of proceedings, and the questioning of dozens of government and 1MDB officials, including its CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
Among its findings, PAC found that the 1MDB board of directors had failed to ensure the fund’s management complied with good accounting practices.
The PAC in its report also urged the authorities to investigate former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi over weaknesses in the company’s management.
It also found that 1MDB Group’s capital financing structure and financial performance was unsatisfactory, noting that in January 2016, 1MDB’s debt hit RM50 billion, compared to its assets worth RM53 billion.
