Kit Siang livid A-G’s reports missing in PAC’s final report

DAP Parliamentary leader accuses Hasan Arifin of having failed in his duty as PAC chairman by not attaching the two reports earlier today.

PETALING JAYA: Lim Kit Siang is demanding that the chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) answer why the Auditor-General’s (A-G) interim report last June, as well as his final report last month on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was excluded from the PAC’s report earlier today.

Speaking at the DAP Sarawak election mobilisation briefing and workshop, the elder statesman said Hasan Arifin had failed in his duties as the PAC chairman by failing to attach the A-G’s reports.

“When the Auditor-General submitted his reports, it was not the property of the chairman (Hasan), it was the property of Parliament.

“Hasan should be proud he presented the report but instead, he has ‘fallen sick.’

“So doesn’t the PAC have a deputy chairman? Let him hold a press conference to give an explanation,” Lim said, referring to deputy chair Tan Seng Giaw.

Lim also questioned the “stern” punishment accorded to Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli over a “technical mistake.”

“He was arrested…after quoting something from the (A-G’s) final report, which at the time, was under the OSA (Official Secrets Act).

But as of 10 o’clock today, after the PAC report was released, what Rafizi quoted is no longer under OSA. So why such stern action against something so technical?” he asked.

Lim also alleged that Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar believed he was more powerful than Parliament itself, and had interfered in lawmakers’ business once too often.