KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali disrespected the Speaker of Parliament by having a subordinate respond to a claim he misled Parliament on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Lim Guan Eng said.

Lim previously accused the international trade and industry minister of misleading Parliament by claiming the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration had decided to ratify the treaty.

“I had on August 3 referred the matter to the Speaker, however, only a reply was provided by the MITI secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali on August 13, and not Azmin himself.

“But Azmin should have been the one giving the reply and not the secretary-general. This is an insult to the Speaker,” Lim told reporters during a press conference held at the DAP headquarters here today.

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Lim also disputed the Miti official’s response, which he said highlighted the PH administration’s decision from September 5, 2018 but omitted mention of a subsequent reversal on November 29 the same year.

He said this did not portray matters as they stood.

“That is why I have questioned Azmin's intention on the matter and I believe that he attempted to mislead the Parliament earlier (August 3),” he said.

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Today, Lim offered to withdraw his bid to refer Azmin to Parliament’s Rights and Privileges Committee if the latter clarified matters and apologised to the Dewan Rakyat.

On August 4, Azmin maintained that the PH administration never made any decision to reject CPTPP.

The senior minister said based on the PH Cabinet’s decision on September 5, 2018, it was agreed that Malaysia would ratify the CPTPP although no timeline was set to formalise it.