Gini rupanya sikap Hasan!

Pua: Hasan didn’t allow us to question Jho Low

Nawar Firdaws

 | April 8, 2016

DAP MP says Opposition members in parliamentary panel had to work harder to get things done.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP MP Tony Pua today claimed Public Accounts Committee Chairman Hasan Arifin was more difficult to deal with compared with the former chairman, Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said the probe into 1MDB became more challenging after Nur Jazlan’s departure.

Pua, who is a member of the parliamentary panel, said when Hasan was made chairman last year, Opposition members were forced to consistently push for their suggestions to be taken into consideration.

“It became more … challenging. It became harder for those on my side of the fence to push for things to be done,” he said at a press conference held at the DAP headquarters here today.

He cited the difficulty Opposition members on the panel had to face when they requested to have former 1MDB chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh called in as a witness.

“The previous chairman would listen to both sides. This time around, we needed to press a lot more, especially when it came to interviewing Bakke.

“We had to ding-dong, ding-dong a few times before he (Hasan) agreed.”

Pua said a similar situation arose when there were plans to question billionaire tycoon Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

He claimed the panel under Nur Jazlan’s leadership had planned to question Low, but Hasan refused to do so.

“There was a contradiction over Low’s role in 1MDB. He had appeared in the board meeting to decide on the firm’s investment with PetroSaudi.

“The question we raised was why Low was at the meeting since he had denied any involvement with 1MDB.

“And the answer the state investment firm gave us was that Low was there to represent Prince Turki on behalf of PetroSaudi.

“Bakke, however, said he was not aware of this.”

Pua said the panel’s inability to question several integral witnesses, coupled with the absence of certain documents, was the reason why, despite Hasan declaring the end of the PAC probe, he was still pressing for further investigations.