Referring to a comment by the minister to the investment community at a luncheon organised by the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF) that the government “can’t press charges on 1MDB without a full picture”, Pua said Johari had put his foot in his mouth by adding that “even the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) and A-G (auditor-general) were unable to specifically tell what went wrong”.
“How can Johari expect Malaysians to believe him that the A-G could not find anything specifically wrong with 1MDB when the Najib administration had classified the A-G’s Report under the OSA since its publication in February 2016?
“Even the then auditor-general, Ambrin Buang, had emphasised the intent of the OSA classification was only for the purpose of the PAC to complete its own report without unnecessary leaks,” the DAP national publicity secretary said.
Explaining that the PAC, of which he is a member, eventually released a “sanitised” report, which in itself had hinted at some shenanigans, Pua questioned if the government was afraid of even more embarrassing exposes with the full release of the A-G’s report.
“For example, the PAC found that the 1MDB’s multi-billion dollar investments in Petrosaudi and other funds were carried out without any proper study or due diligence.
“The PAC and the A-G found that 1MDB decided to invest a total of US$1 billion in a joint venture with Petrosaudi International Limited within just eight days,” Pua said.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP added that corroborating evidence from Bank Negara as well as court cases in the United States and Singapore, show that US$700 million of that sum was allegedly siphoned off to Good Star Limited, a company owned by Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low.
Pua further disclosed how both the PAC and A-G found 1MDB’s management had executed multiple multi-billion dollar transactions without the approval of the 1MDB Board of Directors, yet no action has been taken against its former CEO Shahrol Halmi.
“There are sufficient instances of criminal wrongdoings and negligence by the top management highlighted by both the A-G and the PAC in their reports. PAC also recommended authorities to investigate Shahrol Halmi and other management officers who were involved.
“So, Johari must explain why has Shahrol not been investigated even after more than a year. Why is Shahrol still a director at the Pemandu agency in the prime minister’s department?” Pua said, over the conclusion made by both the PAC and the A-G that 1MDB’s top management had provided false information to the Board of Directors on multiple occassions.
Pua added that the PAC and A-G’s reports were very specific in these allegations.
He also blamed the excuse used by Johari that the PAC and A-G’s report were not sufficiently comprehensive as being due to the fact that 1MDB had refused to supply its overseas banking documents.