KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) held its first meeting on Monday after the appointment of six new members, including its chairman. The meeting was held at Committee Room 2 at the Parliament Building, chaired by its new chairman, Rompin Member of Parliament Datuk Hasan Ariffin, who was appointed on Oct 19.
He took over from Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed who was appointed Deputy Home Minister in the Cabinet reshuffle in July. Besides Hasan, the other newly-appointed PAC members are Putatan MP, Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh and Kota Baharu MP, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.
Also appointed were Datuk Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin), Datuk Nawawi Ahmad (BN-Langkawi), Datuk Koh Nai Kwong (BN-Alor Gajah) who replaced Datuk Mas Ermieyati Shamsudin who was appointed Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (Deputy Foreign Minister) and Datuk Chua Tee Yong (Deputy Finance Minister).
PAC now has 14 members including Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) despite numerous criticisms and calls that he be dropped from the committee following his comments about 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the claims that he had leaked documents on the PAC investigation into the company.
However, when met by the media at the Parliament lobby before the meeting began, Hasan refused to disclose the issues which would be discussed in the meeting here on Monday. The media reported that the PAC would make its stand on the debate between Tony Pua and the president and executive director of 1MDB, Arul Kanda, on the company.
