Pua: Azalina lied about ‘letter’ from Bank Negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Chairman Hasan Arifin never at any point of time communicated with Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members on any development subsequent to the meeting on April 4, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua in a statement. “Hence, PAC members were shocked to discover, upon perusing the tabled report, that two crucial lines in the report were deleted unilaterally by the PAC Chairman.”

The PAC had its final meeting which approved the final PAC Report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) for publication on April 4, 2016. The report was tabled in Parliament three days later on April 7.

Pua, who is also DAP National Publicity Secretary and a member of the PAC, has been left wondering whether there was collusion between the PAC Chairman and the Prime Minister’s Department to cover up the entire 1MDB scandal by scheming a coordinated response to a clear cut abuse of power by Hasan Arifin. “What was interesting was how come a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was privy to an April 6 letter from the Deputy Bank Negara Governor to the PAC Chairman when the members were completely clueless about the matter.”

The question that arises was what exactly were the damaging contents of the letter dated April 6 from Bank Negara which was so ‘confidential’ that it could not be shared with the public, pointed out Pua.

The deleted lines, charged Pua, quoted an earlier Bank Negara clarification letter to the PAC, which stated that Good Star Limited was “a company owned by an individual unrelated to PetroSaudi International”. “Good Star was a recipient of USD1.03 billion of 1MDB funds meant for the latter’s investment with PetroSaudi International Limited.”

The deleted lines clearly indicate a brazen case of misappropriation by 1MDB, Pua added. “It also proves the allegations made by the 1MDB critics such as The Sarawak Report, The Edge, The Wall Street Journal and Opposition critics.”

Pua was taking the position in “unequivocal terms” that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said’s reply in Parliament on the deleted lines from the PAC Report on 1MDB was at best misleading, at worst an outright lie. “Azalina lied in Parliament that the PAC Chairman had informed or shown members any letter from Bank Negara which stated that the information provided to the PAC was confidential and not for public consumption.”

Pua was referring to Azalina’s response to a question posed by Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng. “She claimed that Hasan had received information from Bank Negara which claimed that the information provided by it was ‘confidential’ and not meant to be used for the court of law or for public consumption.”

She further claimed that PAC members have been informed of the letter from the Deputy Bank Negara Governor, lamented Pua.