Datuk Azalina Othman lied in Parliament that the PAC Chairman informed or showed its members Bank Negara letter stating that information provided to the PAC was confidential

Datuk Azalina Othman, in her response to a question posed by the Member of Parliament for Bagan, Lim  Guan  Eng,  claimed  that  the  PAC  Chairman  Datuk  Hasan  Arifin  has  received information from Bank Negara (BNM) which claimed that the information provided by BNM was “confidential” and not meant to be used for the court of law or for public consumption.

"Pengerusi  PAC  (Datuk  Hasan  Arifin)  menerima  maklumat  daripada  Bank  Negara Malaysia  yang  menyatakan  bahawa  segala  maklumat  yang  diberi adalah  berstatus 'sulit bagi tujuan risikan sahaja dan bukan untuk kegunaan mahkamah atau laporan awam." 

She  further  claimed  that  PAC  members  have  been  informed  of  the  above  letter  from  the Deputy BNM Governor.

“Untuk  makluman,  semua  anggota  PAC  telah  dimaklumkan  mengenai  perkara  ini melalui  surat  Pengerusi  PAC  kepada  Timbalan  Gabenor  Bank  Negara  bertarikh  6 April.”

Let me state in unequivocal terms that Datuk Azalina Othman’s reply is at best misleading, at worst an outright lie with regards to the above matter.

The PAC had its final meeting which approved the final PAC Report on 1MDB for publication on 4 April 2016.  The report was tabled in Parliament 3 days later on the 7 April.

Datuk Hasan Arifin never at any point of time communicated with the PAC members on any developments  subsequent  to  the  meeting  on  the  4  April.    Hence  PAC  members  were shocked to discover upon perusing the tabled report that two crucial lines in the report was deleted unilaterally by the PAC Chairman.

The deleted lines quoted an earlier Bank Negara clarification letter to the PAC, which stated that Good Star Limited, a  recipient of US$1.03 billion of 1MDB funds meant for the latter’s investment  with  Petrosaudi  International  Limited,  was “a  company  owned  by  an  individual unrelated to Petrosaudi International”.

The  deleted  lines  clearly  indicate  a  brazen  case  of  misappropriation  by  1MDB  which  also proves  the  allegations  made  by  the  1MDB  critics  such  as  The  Sarawak  Report,  The  Edge, The Wall Street Journal and opposition critics.

The  question  then  is,  what  exactly  are  the  damaging  contents  of  this  letter  dated  6  April which is so “confidential” and cannot be shared with the public?

What  is  even  more  interesting  however,  is  how  come  the  Minister  in  the  Prime  Minister’s Department is privy to a letter from the Deputy Bank Negara Governor to the PAC Chairman dated 6 April when the members of the PAC are completely clueless above the matter?

Is there now a collusion between the PAC Chairman and the Prime Minister’s Department to cover  up  the  entire scandal  by scheming  a  coordinated  response  to  the  clear  cut  abuse  of power by Datuk Hasan Arifin?