Tuan Ibrahim rebuts Puad's attacks, but omits Hadi card

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has rebutted Special Affairs Department (Jasa) head Mohd Puad Zarkashi's comment on this, but ignored the Puad's use of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's name to attack him.

Tuan Ibrahim said if Puad was convinced there was no wrongdoing in state investment fund 1MDB, the government should declassify the auditor-general's report on 1MDB.

"What were the comments and conclusions made by the auditor-general about the audit on 1MDB?

"Was the audit report completed with all supporting documents?

"Was the Auditor-General's Department able to verify every financial transaction 1MDB made abroad, complete with the financial statements of foreign banks?" Tuan Ibrahim asked in a statement today.

Yesterday, Puad launched a broadside on Tuan Ibrahim for pressing for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on 1MDB, insisting that the matter was only a case of foreign intervention, as argued by Hadi.

The US Department of Justice believes US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB, part of which was allegedly laundered through the US financial system.

Puad has also defended the move to keep secret the auditor-general's report on 1MDB, stating that it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and referenced in the committee's report, which is available to the public.

The PAC report had noted that 1MDB failed to furnish documents to the auditor-general, which meant that some US$2.173 billion in payments could not be verified.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi has also rejected the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) request for Mutual Legal Assistance to obtain documents abroad for MACC's investigation into 1MDB, which had since ceased.

In his statement, Tuan Ibrahim also questioned whether the PAC was able to interview Penang businessperson Low Taek Jho, who the DOJ said is a mastermind in the 1MDB scandal.

"Why do the Malaysian government, and the prime minister also, not file suits against Sarawak Report or The Wall Street Journal over slander against 1MDB, if they were indeed slander?

"All these questions are being asked by the common people," he said.

Tuan Ibrahim said PAS was not seeking to accuse anyone as all are innocent until proven guilty, and he added that the government would help the clear the air on the 1MDB scandal by answering these questions.- Mkini