PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has defended Ronald Kiandee’s role as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman now that he is an independent MP.
“If he joins one of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties, then he is obliged to resign immediately as PAC chairman as the PH has accepted the principle that the PAC chairman must be an opposition MP.
“Until then, I think Ronald Kiandee is in the twilight zone – as he has not yet become a government MP although he has left Umno,” Lim said in a statement today.
The Iskandar Puteri MP was responding to calls for Kiandee, who is the former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker, to immediately resign as PAC chairman now that he has quit from opposition party Umno.
Kiandee was reported previously as saying that he could not step down from the post of PAC chairman, after quitting Umno, until Parliament makes a further decision on the matter.
“I will be doing an injustice to PAC if I vacate the seat now when Parliament is not in session.
“Once the chairman resigns, the PAC committee cannot call for a meeting. I will leave the decision to the prime minister,” FMT quoted him as saying.
The next Parliament sitting is scheduled for March 11, 2019.
Kiandee was part of the mass exodus of 30 Sabah Umno elected representatives and leaders this week. They will stay as independents for the moment but have pledged support for PH and the Sabah state government.
Barisan Nasional (BN) has since said it will propose another candidate to replace Kiandee as PAC chairman because the PH manifesto clearly states the post should be held by an opposition MP.
Lim said BN president Zahid Ahmad Hamidi was wrong to suggest that Kiandee should resign because he was appointed at the “discretion” of the opposition leader.
He said the final decision lies with Parliament and not with the opposition leader.
Lim also said the “principle” that the PAC chairman should be an opposition member should now stipulate that no PAC chairman should sit and examine government accounts if he was a government MP in the past.
“There is a necessity to qualify this principle,” he said.
“For instance, the latest set of Auditor-General’s (A-G) accounts are with regard to federal government accounts for the year 2017, in other words, belonging to the period when Umno/BN was in government.
“It would be rather invidious as we will then have the ridiculous situation of the PAC chairman sitting in judgment over the accounts of his own government.”
PAC is currently probing whether alterations were made to the final 1MDB audit report, which A-G Madinah Mohamad claimed was done at the instruction of several individuals, including former prime minister Najib Razak.
The PAC probe will continue in January.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating the same matter. -FMT
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