Prove you're not shielding Jho Low, PAC members ask Hasan

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members from the opposition bench want PAC chief Hasan Arifin to reveal the letter to PAC by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) sent on April 6.

This is to prove that he is not trying to hide that businessman Jho Low benefited from 1MDB’s US$1.03 billio transfer to Good Star Limited, PAC member Tony Pua said.

“We call upon Hasan to confirm or deny if Jho Low is indeed the sole shareholder of Good Star Limited.

“If Bank Negara did indeed name and confirm Low, then the PAC chairperson must immediately resign from his position for failing to uphold the integrity of the Parliament and for clear cut obstruction of justice to thwart an independent and transparent investigation into the single largest scandal in the of Malaysia,” Pua said.

According to Pua, Hasan used the April 6 letter to justify making a unilateral decision to delete portions of the PAC Report on 1MDB, tabled in Parliament on April 7.

Pua said Hasan told PAC members the April 6 letter states that the information BNM revealed to PAC in a letter in March was “privileged”.

BNM had then informed PAC it found that the US$1.03 billion transferred by 1MDB to Good Star Limited ultimately benefited “an individual unrelated to Petrosaudi International Limited”, Pua said.

Petrosaudi International Limited was 1MDB's joint venture partner, but the deal eventually fell through. Good Star has been linked to Low.

In response, PAC members requested that Hasan write to BNM for clarification of the identity of this “individual” but they were not told that BNM replied on April 6, Pua said.

They was only told when they pressed Hasan on the unilateral amendments to the PAC report, during a meeting on May 18, he said.

“If the letter did, and merely substantiated his claims that the information was privileged, then why the unprecedented refusal to disclose the full contents of the letter to the PAC?” he asked. -Mkini