Cabinet glad PAC report disproved Dr M’s 1MDB claims, says minister
(MMO) – The Cabinet is satisfied with the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), particularly for controverting Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s allegations, said Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan today.
The urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister also said the Cabinet during its meeting today was “delighted” that the report absolved Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in relation to the allegations against the state investment firm.
“We did discuss it today, it was the main headline. We are quite pleased that the allegations made especially by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the RM42 billion missing is not true,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.
“It has been finally proven that what we (Putrajaya) has been saying all this while has been true. When we said it before no one believed us, now the report proves us right,” Abdul Rahman added.
He also claimed that the opposition was similarly content with the report, citing the statement made by DAP’s PAC deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who said Najib was only involved in an advisory role and not directly in the management of it.
But Abdul Rahman criticised DAP’s Tony Pua, who is a PAC member, for trying to “prolong the matter” by asking for Najib to compel 1MDB to produce its overseas bank account statements.
“It (the bank statements) is irrelevant. PAC’s mandate is given to dissect the company to see if there is any mismanagement. Don’t go beyond that, that is totally off tangent,” he said.
The Kota Belud MP also said the opposition should also have demanded a minority report if they were truly dissatisfied with the main document, and that the absence of such a call indicated that they accepted its contents as tabled.
PAC released its much-anticipated final report on the troubled state investment arm yesterday after almost a year of proceedings, and the questioning of dozens of government and 1MDB officials, including its CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
Among its findings, PAC found that the 1MDB board of directors had failed to ensure the fund’s management complied with good accounting practices.
The PAC in its report also urged the authorities to investigate former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi over weaknesses in the company’s management.
It also found that 1MDB Group’s capital financing structure and financial performance was unsatisfactory, noting that in January 2016, 1MDB’s debt hit RM50 billion, compared to its assets worth RM53 billion.
Pua in a press conference earlier today said he was generally happy with the report, but some areas could were not adequately explored as 1MDB had not furnished PAC with its overseas bank account statements.
