PSC on Azam Baki share ownership not open to public - speaker

 

The parliamentary select committee (PSC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday (Jan 19) to discuss the shareholdings of MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki will not be open to the public due to the Parliament’s Standing Orders.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun (above) said the Standing Orders apply to all PSC proceedings.

“Standing Orders don’t allow open proceedings.

“In fact, the Standing Orders disallow discussion or even disclosure of witnesses, witness statements, and contents of the proceedings until a report has been presented to the Dewan,” he said, as reported by The Star today.

This is meant to preserve the integrity of such proceedings and to ensure complete cooperation from everyone involved, he added.

Edmund Terence Gomez, who used to be a member of the MACC Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel until he resigned in protest over the issue recently, earlier stressed the need for the proceedings to be open to the public and media.

He said this is important to ensure there is no cover-up.

"Because we have to ensure these politicians are asking the right questions... have an open and detailed review of these allegations. That can only be done when there is public oversight," he said.

MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki

It was reported previously that the PSC on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss Azam’s share ownership in two public listed companies.

The meeting is scheduled for 2pm on that day (Jan 19).

Similar calls were made in 2015 for the Public Accounts Committee’s hearing on 1MDB to be aired live on television.

Although it was initially agreed to by the PAC, then Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia shot down the proposal, citing Parliament rules.

According to Pandikar, Parliament's Standing Order 85 does not allow any committee under the House to air the contents of its discussions so long as the statement of proceedings is yet to be submitted to the Dewan Rakyat.

Azam came under scrutiny recently after allegations surfaced about him having owned shares in two companies back in 2015.

According to Excel Force Bhd's 2015 annual report, Azam owned 2,156,000 warrants in the company as of March 21, 2016. At the time, Azam was the head of MACC's investigation division.

However, in a press conference on Jan 5, Azam said he did not do anything wrong as the shares were bought by his brother, who only used his name. - Mkini