Najib not implicated in PAC report
Explaining why the report did not refer to Najib, Pua said that this was because the 1MDB management had made no mention of the prime minister when interviewed by the parliamentary committee.
“The only thing we have on [Najib] is the shareholders resolutions which he signed,” he told reporters outside the Dewan Rakyat today.
However, Pua claimed that Najib must have been aware of the firm’s dealings.
“He signed all these deals,” Pua told the press, adding that Clause 117 of 1MDB’s Memorandum and Articles of Association required Najib to approve all the company’s dealings and investments.
“At the very least, he should be held ministerially accountable,” Pua contended.
He said further that the PAC report into 1MDB, tabled before the Dewan Rakyat today, had suggested that investigations by the Auditor-General (AG) and the PAC had been hampered by the company’s lack of cooperation.
Lamenting the unavailability of information relating to the company’s international transactions and the PAC’s failure to secure the testimony of former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman, Bank Negara officials, auditors Ernst & Young and even controversial figures like Low Taek Jho, Pua claimed that the evidence against 1MDB was still “damning”.
He added that the PAC had found that the company’s joint venture with Petrosaudi had taken place without the knowledge and approval of 1MDB’s board of directors, noting further that the company’s former chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh had quit the Board shortly thereafter in protest.
The Petrosaudi transaction saw a sizeable sum of money transferred from the company to Good Star Limited, a corporation linked to Jho Low which 1MDB had claimed was a subsidiary of Petrosaudi.
However, the PAC did not find any evidence to support the company’s contention, Pua pointed out.
“Besides the original USD700 million transferred in 2009, 1MDB further transferred an additional USD300 million to Good Star in 2011,” Pua said.
Mukah Pages bring you trending news media with Free Malaysia Today http://ift.tt/1SRFGvD
Post a Comment