PAC to call up Arul Kanda, Ali Hamsa, ex-MACC chief

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 5): The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will call up several people to assist its inquiry into the possible tampering of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) final audit report in 2016, after obtaining new information from former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang.

“A lot of information has been provided from Tan Sri Ambrin’s perspective as the auditor-general,” PAC chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee told reporters after Ambrin’s testimony yesterday.

He said former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa will be called up to testify sometime after December.

Also in the list, said Kiandee, is “Tan Sri Dzul” of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). It was reported on May 15 that former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad reported for duty at the AGC a day after resigning from the anti-graft agency — although his role was not disclosed at the time.

Kiandee also did not rule out the possibility of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak being called up to give his statement on the matter.

On Nov 24, Auditor-General Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad said in a statement that the original audit report on 1MDB issued in 2016 by the National Audit Department had been altered.

Her statement alleged that orders to tamper with the report first came from Najib, who was prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB chairman at the time.

The audit report was allegedly edited several times prior to it being presented to the PAC on March 4, 2016 — once under the instruction of Najib’s then-principal private secretary Tan Sri Shukry Salleh, and another time under the purview of then-chief secretary Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.

The key amendments, according to Madinah, included the removal of a paragraph mentioning Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) attendance at a meeting of the 1MDB board of directors, as well as the removal of a paragraph on 1MDB’s financial statements for the year 2014.

On Oct 30, Ambrin, who was the auditor-general in 2016, denied that the audit report had been tampered with, according to news reports.

Kiandee was tight-lipped yesterday when asked whether Ambrin admitted that the report was indeed tampered with as alleged by Madinah. 
“There are many more questions that need answers,” he said.

“Based on this information, PAC is of the opinion that Tan Sri [Ambrin] will need to be called up again alongside the audit team who audited 1MDB in 2014,” he said.

“I cannot reveal the names [of the auditors], but there are five to six individuals who were named by [Ambrin],” he said.

When contacted later, Kiandee confirmed that he was referring to the National Audit Department audit team working with Ambrin on 1MDB’s final audit report in 2016.

The PAC chief hopes the inquiry can be completed before the next parliamentary sitting in March 2019, when the report of the inquiry is expected to be tabled.

Madinah is expected to testify today, followed by former government sector audit director Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad tomorrow.

Separately, on the second series of the 2017 Auditor-General’s Report which highlighted discrepancies at the ministry of transport and the ministry of youth and sports in 2017, Kiandee said the PAC is currently studying the details on the matter.

“Definitely the several ministries highlighted by the auditor-general in the report will be investigated,” he said.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Dec 5, 2018.

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