'CARI MAKAN' SHOCKER: PAC CHIEF CUT OUT BANK NEGARA'S STATEMENT ON JHO LOW'S GOOD STAR WITHOUT TELLING OTHER MEMBERS

KUALA LUMPUR - A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member accused chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin today of editing the panel’s report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) without the knowledge of other members.

DAP lawmaker Tony Pua claimed today that Hasan had deleted a sentence that states that Good Star Limited ― which had received US$700 million (RM2.7 billion) in its RBS Coutts Bank Ltd account, part of the US$1 billion that 1MDB had invested in a joint venture with Saudi Arabian oil company PetroSaudi International Ltd, according to the PAC report ― is a company owned by a person not linked to the PetroSaudi Group.

“The PAC report on page 25 says that ‘Based on the documents provided by Datuk Shahrol Azral on June 5 2015 and his testimony during the PAC meeting on November 25 2015, the account is owned by Good Star Limited which is a subsidiary of the PetroSaudi Group, since September 1 2009.’

“However, the PAC chairman had cut off a subsequent sentence which was agreed upon in the meeting, that is ― ‘Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) was voluntarily informed by the country's authorities that Good Star Limited is a company owned by an individual with no links to the PetroSaudi Group’,” Pua told reporters in the Parliament lobby here.

Pua said that Hasan's alleged action to leave out what is deemed to be a crucial sentence in the PAC report is an outright violation of the PAC's Meeting Orders and has now provoked suspicion on whether the parliamentary panel head intends to close the 1MDB case.

“Datuk Hasan Arifin has never discussed the matter with us, officially or otherwise,” Pua said, demanding that Hasan correct the report immediately via a correction paper to Parliament.

- Malay Mail