KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — MCA president Datuk Wee Ka Siong defended today his stance against alleged 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) embezzlement amid an argument with DAP leader Tony Pua.
The Ayer Hitam MP said he was one of the MPs who had voted for Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to reopen investigations into the state investment firm.
“However, the PH (Pakatan Harapan) government has now suspended this PAC investigation even though a majority of Parliament agreed to reopen the case back in August last year,” Wee said in a statement.
“The PH government had also not released the special audit by PWC into 1MDB that was completed in August 2018 even after the Finance Minister’s pledge to do so.
“On top of that, the PH government had also cancelled the settlement agreement with IPIC that purportedly had a clause where IPIC had until December 2020 to repay whatever money was allegedly missing from 1MDB,” Wee added, referring to Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas announced last October that Malaysia would challenge a settlement agreement between 1MDB and IPIC on the basis of fraud, claiming that Malaysia was obliged to pay US$5.78 billion to IPIC and the bond trustee in a five-year period under the 2017 consent award. But Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala told Reuters that 1MDB did not owe any debt to IPIC or Mubadala.
Wee said the PH government has yet to reveal its negotiations with IPIC since the October cancellation of 1MDB’s settlement agreement with IPIC.
“Those who follow the 1MDB case would be aware that most of the money allegedly missing was after it has been transferred to or guaranteed by IPIC’s top management.
“Why is there no action by PH on IPIC and their former management?” he questioned
Pua earlier challenged Wee to admit that 1MDB was a global scandal involving billions of ringgit instead of trying to divert attention to other issues.
The back-and-forth between Pua and Wee started when the latter said PH had inadvertently confirmed that 1MDB was beneficial because Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had both praised 1MDB projects Bandar Malaysia and TRX.
