Ex-PAC head denies hiding facts in report on 1MDB

The former Public Accounts Committee chair wants to defend himself against the allegations if referred to parliamentary select committee.

Former Public Accounts Committee chairman Hasan Ariffin says the ‘intelligence information’ given by Bank Negara could not be divulged to the public. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Hasan Ariffin today denied altering the PAC report on the investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

This followed a motion tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today to reopen the 1MDB probe.

The changes involved the alleged removal of sentences that raised doubt on the actual owner of the Good Star Limited company, said to have received US$1.03 billion directly from 1MDB.

Hasan (BN-Rompin) said it was not true that he had hidden from other PAC members a letter from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to the PAC. The letter allegedly stated that Low Taek Jho was the sole beneficiary of the company.

“An agency such as the central bank cannot determine whether Low is the owner of the company. I had informed the PAC members that the information given by the central bank is ‘intelligence information’ and cannot be divulged to the public. The bank itself had said so.

“I had returned all the letters because they were not relevant and could not confirm if Good Star belonged to Low. I informed all PAC members,” he said while debating the motion today.

Tony Pua (PH-Damansara), who was also part of the PAC then, stood up and said that the letter should have been distributed to all PAC members and questioned why the letter was returned to the central bank.

“Is there information in the letter that cannot be seen by other members? Did it say that Low is the owner of Good Star?”

Hasan was quick to retort and said “No”. He said “the letter clearly states that the information is intelligence information and cannot be divulged to the public.

“If I photocopy and distribute to PAC members, it will then be considered public.”

The former PAC chairman also asked which agency had confirmed Good Star belonged to Low and that if they could not confirm, “do not accuse me of hiding facts”.

Hasan also said he should be brought to a select committee for him to defend himself against these allegations of altering the PAC report.

“If you bring me to a parliamentary select committee, this will be fair to me and also fair to Damansara (Pua),” he said.

Pua agreed with the suggestion.

Earlier, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng moved the motion for 1MDB investigations to be reopened and for the findings to be made public.

Lim (PH-Bagan), in his opening statement, said that former PAC members in the last session had alleged that the former PAC chairman had removed sentences in the PAC report on 1MDB, which then raised doubts as to the actual owner of Good Star.

“The former PAC chairman also hid a letter from BNM from other PAC members. The letter had clearly named a Malaysian from Penang, by the name of Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, as the sole beneficiary of the company.

“This important information exposes the lie by the former prime minister and 1MDB’s highest management, which previously defended Good Star as a subsidiary of Petrosaudi International Limited, a partner of 1MDB,” he said.

Lim also claimed that at the same time, Hasan had “cancelled” a PAC decision to question Low.

Lim claimed Hasan had also curtailed all attempts to meet the key witnesses of the 1MDB scandal, which included Najib Razak (BN-Pekan), the former BNM governor, Ernst & Young’s former auditor, and former 1MDB chief executive officer Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman.

“The audit report by the auditor-general, which had been presented to PAC previously, even when it had contained a lot of information, including negative findings against the board of directors and the company’s highest management, was incomplete and not thorough.

“This is because the report was blocked by the scope and terms of reference which were extremely narrow. Auditor-General Ambrin Buang himself was not happy with the 1MDB management for not fully cooperating, including their refusal to hand over complete documents,” he added.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had previously ordered that the auditor-general’s report into 1MDB be declassified.

He was reported as saying that he had given instructions to the police to remove the restrictions under the Official Secrets Act and for them to submit the report to him for study.

The audit report was submitted to Parliament’s PAC after a serious political controversy about the finances and investments of 1MDB, which was then said to have suffered RM42 billion in losses.

However, it was classified under the Official Secrets Act in 2016. MPs were only allowed to study the report and not to release the details. -FMT