KUALA LUMPUR: Impartiality and integrity should be upheld by all Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members regardless of their political inclination.
Simpang Renggam MP Liang Teck Meng today questioned the motive behind DAP's Tony Pua's statement which the latter had posted on his personal Facebook page.
Liang said instead of upholding the impartiality and integrity of the committee, Pua who is also part of the inquiry saw fit to issue a statement that prejudiced the entire ongoing inquiry with ill-advised allegations.
As his first New Year's resolution, Pua pledged in his Facebook post last Friday to "expose the crooks behind the multi-billion ringgit scam behind 1MDB which has resulted in not only tens of billions of ringgit of taxpayers losses but also a collapse in the confidence of the Malaysian economy and currency".
The Gerakan MP, who is also a PAC member further said: "He is obviously basing his allegations on his own biased opinion and not on the accounts nor on the interviews of the many witnesses that the PAC have called on so far and certainly no based on what the auditors have told us."
Liang also slammed Pua and said he has passed his own judgment which runs to counter to what has been presented in the committee so far, which is based on reams of documents, proof and testimonies.
Liang also questioned the motive behind the statement and wondered if Pua had a hidden political agenda.
"No sane person would try to prejudice and dishonour himself and the PAC in such a manner unless this person has a hidden political agenda that is not based on the truth or on factual evidence.
"This begs the question if this particular PAC member deliberately wants to be suspended or removed from the PAC inquiry into 1MDB by very clearly and repeatedly breaking the standing orders of the Parliament and the PAC?
"By literally begging for a suspension, ahead of the final findings of the PAC inquiry into 1MDB, does he want to pre-empt the findings to play the victim in order to create a public perception that he has been unfairly blocked from "uncovering the truth and exposing the crooks"?, " said Liang.
Liang advised Pua to focus on discharging his duties honorably as an MP and focus on fact and evidence based investigations and judgement on 1MDB.
"You owe it to your voters to uncover the real truth and not create untrue perceptions, YB. Stop playing games."