Despite speaker, Azalina still says RM2.6b questions sub judice

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said has again refused to respond to a question on the RM2.6 billion scandal by insisting it would be sub judice to do so.

In a written parliamentary reply yesterday, she rejected Hanipa Maidin's (Amanah-Sepang) question on the real reason attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had cleared Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion and SRC International RM42 million scandals.

Hanipa had also wanted to know where the remaining RM570 million left over, after Najib is claimed to have returned the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’, was.

Azalina's reply comes in spite of House speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia saying last week that only the speaker can decide on whether matters are sub judice or not, and that it would be made on a case by case basis.

Pandikar had warned Azalina not to usurp his powers by making such declarations on what cannot be answered in Parliament.

Azalina, however, did not cite any Standing Orders in her reply to Hanipa.

Azalina earlier fended off MPs’ questions saying they are sub judice because the Bar Council had filed for a judicial review of Apandi's decision on the probe into Najib.

The embattled prime minister has denied any wrongdoing amidst the allegations, and said such attempts were a plot to topple him. -Mkini