KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee will suspend all planned proceedings related 1Malaysia Development Bhd criminal charges, until the courts reach a decision on the case.
The committee, however, stressed that it would not stop its probe into allegations that 2016 Auditor-General’s final report on 1MDB was amended.
PAC in a statement today also announced that it has decided to call Auditor General Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad and her predecessor Tan Sri Ambrin Buang as witnesses in the first week of December to facilitate the probe.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee said PAC decided to suspend the proceedings related to the criminal case after being advised by the Attorney-General and their legal advisers to let the law take its course.
“We had a meeting with the Attorney-General two Fridays ago,” he said while referring to Tommy Thomas’ suggestion to adjourn the proceedings “sine die” (indefinitely) in a letter on Oct 25.
Kiandee said Thomas had said both in the letter and in person that the proceeding had to “definitely” be suspended pending a court decision. This was meant to prevent prejudice in the ongoing criminal case.
Asked whether this meant it would take time for the proceeding to resume in Dewan Rakyat, the Beluran MP was non-committal and could only say that the suspension was indefinite.
“This means there would not be proceeding on this in this session and until the case is solved.
“That’s exactly our stand despite a parliamentary motion to have a proceeding on the case. And we have already informed the speaker on this and I am sure the speaker has also informed the government of this,” he said after chairing a PAC meeting at Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.
His deputy Wong Kah Woh, who called for a separate presser in the parliament lobby, also announced that the suspension was exclusive to the criminal cases surrounding 1MDB and not the probe into the Auditor-General’s final report.
Wong said Thomas had allowed the probe to continue as PAC had explained to him the direction and the scope of the investigation.
“We have also explained to him that as far as the term of reference of the Auditor General’s report is concerned there is nothing that will prejudice the prosecution case,” added the Ipoh Timur MP.
He also said the dates for the witnesses to be called were fixed at Dec 4,5 and 6 by consensus.
“We will proceed with the investigation as to whether the auditor general’s report on 1MDB was amended.
“So that’s the core issue of the 1MDB scandal. We will pursue the rest when the time comes and wait for the outcome of the courts,” he added.
Wong dropped a bombshell in late Oct when he said the Auditor General’s Report on 1MDB was tampered with.
Wong (PH-Ipoh Timur) claimed the report had been amended following the instruction of certain individuals.
He said the previous PAC members not only failed to re-open investigation after the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) civil suit but the original audit report was allegedly changed by people who had abused their powers.