PAC to resume 1MDB probe after halted for 3 months

KUALA LUMPUR - The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is recommencing its inquiry on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and will call up its current and former chief executives to testify.

Newly-appointed PAC chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin said that probe ― which was suspended after the committee’s previous head and four members resigned ― is resuming, bud did not disclose when this will be.

“We have studied and discussed the framework put in place by the former PAC chairman and we will continue the proceeding by calling those who were initially scheduled for questioning.

“We will call as you all know it, Arul Kanda, Shahrol (Datuk Shahrol Ibrahim Halmi) and Hazem (Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman),” Hasan told a press conference today.

Arul Kanda Kandasamy is the firm’s current CEO while Shahrol is his immediate predecessor; Mohd Hazem was one of the state-owned firm’s managing directors as well as chief executive.

When asked if the PAC would also call in flamboyant tycoon Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, Hasan said that he does not yet intend to do so as Low is more of a “personality” rather than a key witness on the 1MDB issue.

“He is a person that we should call but not immediately,” Hasan added.

Aside from the PAC, the Auditor-General is also conducting an audit on the accounts of 1MDB, which has reportedly amassed debts of some RM42 billion since it was incorporated in 2009.

The PAC and AG began their investigations into 1MDB after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in March ordered the probes to address allegations of mismanagement against the firm.

The PAC was last investigating 1MDB when its chairman then, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, resigned after he was made deputy home minister.

Aside from Nur Jazlan, four other Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs also resigned after they were brought into the federal administration.

The resignations prompted Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to suspend the PAC’s proceedings, drawing protests from the remaining opposition lawmakers on the committee.

Two weeks ago, Hasan was named as Nur Jazlan’s replacement while the remaining BN vacancies have also been filled.

The composition of the panel is otherwise unchanged.

Prior to its suspension, the PAC had been due to question 1MDB’s current chief executive Arul Kanda and his predecessor, Shahrol on August 4 and 5.