Putrajaya has no choice but to declassify the
Auditor-General’s Report on the 1MDB, stressed Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua
in a statement. “This is the only way to save its own credibility and
reputation.”
He added that there was no point in keeping the Report a
secret any more “now that it has been leaked”.
Pua called on Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamad,
formerly Chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to take
the initiative to get the Report released.
Otherwise, he warned, Nur Jazlan and the Malaysian
Government will be seen as clearly attempting to cover up a mega global
financial scandal. “They will be seen as protecting the wrongdoers in the
debt-ridden state-owned company.”
Instead of recommending the Report be declassified, he
lamented, Nur Jazlan was authorising a witchhunt of Sarawak Report (SR) for
leaking the Report through an expose.
Pua, who is also DAP National Publicity Secretary, was
expressing extreme disappointment that the Deputy Home Minister had called on
the police to investigate SR for breach of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“Of all people, Nur Jazlan should understand the concept of
accountability and transparency. He preached this during his tenure as PAC
Chairman.”
In fact, he recalled, Nur Jazlan often led the PAC to demand
answers from 1MDB, gave clear instructions to the Auditor-General on the
information to be acquired and even concluded that the mysterious key-man, Low
Taek Jho, be summoned to testify before the Committee.
His stand on the matter was clear and can be read in the
published Hansard as well as press conferences, continued Pua.
He wondered what caused the 180-degree about-turn in Nur
Jazlan’s position on the 1MDB scandal.
“His directive to the police on SR could destroy the
goodwill and reputation he has gained over the past few years.” Nur Jazlan was
seen as one of the few Umno politicians with some traces of integrity, reminded
Pua. “The people hoped that he would carry on crusading for better
accountability in the administration of government subsidiaries.”
In the 1MDB case, said Pua, the people wanted in the very
least that he try to convince Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that the right
thing to do under the circumstances was to “declassify” the Report.
Pua virtually hailed the SR expose when he referred to it as
a feat. “Even I could not achieve this because PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin ruled
that PAC members could not retain a copy of the document.”
“This is despite the fact that we had been specifically
cleared to access the Report.”
Pua hastened to assure that he could only read the Report
during the PAC meetings or upon request at the Parliamentary office.
Source -FMT-
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