Najib: PAC probe okay, but don't focus on finding faults

The Public Accounts Commitee (PAC) is free to re-open its probe into 1MDB but the Pakatan Harapan government should not just focus on finding faults, said former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

“If they want to re-open (the 1MDB investigation), there is nothing for me to object to because we want to find the truth...it is the right of the PAC but let’s not just be in the mood to find wrongdoing,” Najib said to reporters outside the Dewan Rakyat today.

Instead, he said, Harapan should be focusing on developing the country as they already received the rakyat’s mandate in the 14th general election.

“Now they (the Harapan government) have the mandate to govern the country, so they should be focusing on efforts to develop the country, to find new sources of ideas and revenue as well as how to develop the economy and help the rakyat,” he said.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today filed a motion in the Dewan Rakyat for the PAC and the auditor-general to reopen their investigation into 1MDB and to make all related information available to the public.

It is currently fifth on the order paper and is expected to be tabled tomorrow, on the last day of this Parliament sitting.

The PAC’s first probe into 1MDB had concluded that then prime minister Najib was not involved in any wrongdoing in the matter and held the board of directors accountable instead.

However, the PAC, which was chaired by Rompin MP Hasan Arifin at that time, did not manage to interview Najib as part of its probe despite him chairing 1MDB’s board of advisors.

The current PAC is chaired by Beluran MP Ronald Kiandee who was appointed to that role after opposition leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi turned down the offer for the position.

-Mkini