PAC's probe into 1MDB good to go, says its deputy

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will proceed with its 1MDB proceedings following a clarification sought with attorney-general Tommy Thomas last Friday, said PAC deputy chief Wong Kah Woh (above).

The meeting was held after the AG advised PAC to postpone its first session of 1MDB proceeding slated to be held on Oct 29 to another date.

A source had said that the postponement was to avoid sub judiceto the ongoing criminal trials involving the state-owned fund.

"The attorney-general was of the view that the PAC's 1MDB proceeding would not sub judice the ongoing 1MDB criminal trials.

"The Attorney-General's Chambers, however, was worried that PAC's proceeding might affect the prosecution procedure of 1MDB trial, thus might prejudice the prosecution in court," Wong told Malaysiakini.

"Given that the 1MDB audit report is not pending in court, things are good to go for PAC (to probe the matter)," said the Ipoh Timur parliamentarian.

As for other issues which might overlap with the ongoing 1MDB criminal trial, Wong said PAC would decide later.

In August, the Dewan Rakyat approved the re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal by PAC and the National Audit Department.

PAC initially planned to conduct its first session of 1MDB proceeding on Oct 29.

Last week, PAC chief Ronald Kiandee (photo) said PAC put off its 1MDB proceeding upon the AG's advice. He, however, did not give a new date.

Wong said a new date for the proceeding is not fixed but PAC will call for an internal meeting next week.

He added that PAC decided to kick-start its 1MDB proceeding by first probing matters raised in the 2016 auditor-general's report on 1MDB, and will call former auditor-general Ambrin Buang to testify as the first witness.

Meanwhile, another source who is familiar with the parliamentary committee, expects PAC to probe whether the 1MDB audit report had been tampered with, as claimed by Wong in his debate in Dewan Rakyat sitting last week.

If so, the committee is expected to investigate whom the instruction came from and what was the original content of the audit report, according to the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"The audit report (on 1MDB) was classified as a state secret under the Official Secrets Act 1972. In fact, there was an abuse of power, where the original audit report was amended on the instructions of specific people," Wong had said.

Ambrin had denied Wong's claim that 1MDB audit report was tampered with. - Mkini