PSC's meeting with SC on Azam shares postponed

 

Another Parliament Special Select Committee (PSC) meeting to discuss MACC chief Azam Baki's shares ownership scandal has been postponed.

This time, a meeting that was set between the PSC on Finance and Economy and the Securities Commission (SC) was postponed to an unspecified date.

According to two members of the select committee, they did not know what were the reasons for the postponement.

"I do not know why the PSC meeting was cancelled or postponed," Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming said in a text message to Malaysiakini when contacted this morning.

"I received an email from the (PSC) secretariat yesterday saying that it is postponed," he added.

Subang MP Wong Chen, who is the committee's deputy chairperson, also gave a similar response - that he has no information why the meeting was postponed or who requested its postponement.

"There is no date yet," he said when asked when the PSC meeting was rescheduled to.

Subang MP Wong Chen

Malaysiakini has sent a request to the PSC’s chairperson Hasan Arifin for comments.

Earlier this week, the PSC set a meeting with the stock market regulator, where the latter was expected to explain its findings on Azam, who was recently implicated in a shares ownership scandal.

The meeting was scheduled to take place at 9am this morning at the SC's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The PSC had reportedly planned to summon the SC since January to seek its explanation after the regulatory body stated it concluded its investigation into Azam but were "not able to conclusively establish a breach under Section 25(4) of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (Sicda) occurred".

However, following widespread criticism over that announcement, the SC issued a clarification the next day (Jan 19), where it clarified it found no evidence of proxy trading.

Prior to this, another PSC on Agencies Under the Prime Minister's Department summoned Azam for a hearing, following public outcry over the shares ownership scandal.

However, the meeting was postponed after the MACC chief objected to the hearing, and has yet to be rescheduled.

Azam came under the spotlight over his ownership of 1,930,000 shares in Gets Global Berhad (previously KBES Berhad) on April 30, 2015 worth around RM772,000 at the time.

His shareholding in Gets Global Berhad went down to 1,029,500 as of March 31, 2016, worth around RM340,000 at the time.

He also held 2,156,000 warrants in Excel Force MSC Berhad in March 2016.

The share ownership in 2015 and 2016 raised questions on whether it was commensurate with his income as a public servant. - Mkini