Kit Siang challenges PAC to haul up Najib

A waste of time for 1MDB investigation without Najib testifying, says DAP veteran

KUALA LUMPUR: The new chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hasan Arifin, has been challenged to summon the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Najib Razak, to testify at its hearings into 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said “there is only one person in the country who knows the ins-and-outs” of key controversial issues surrounding 1MDB, the government’s investment fund over the past six years.

He said any investigations into 1MDB without calling Najib would be a waste of time.

Najib, as finance minister, has oversight over 1MDB, which is fully owned by the Finance Ministry and operates as the government’s investment arm. Questions have been raised about the company’s investments and its financial management. The company has debts totalling RM42 billion.

The Public Accounts Committee, which is parliament’s watchdog on government spending, has scheduled hearings on the company’s affairs and has summoned past and present company officials to testify.

The hearings were suspended after the committee’s chairman and three other members were appointed as deputy ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle in late July. The new chairman was elected in October when the Dewan Rakyat resumed for the Budget sitting after its mid-year break.

Lim said that if the committee was serious about wanting to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal, the most important witness is Najib himself and not the “revolving-door” teams of chief operatives, board of directors or even the auditors.