Declassify AG's report on 1MDB, Ku Li says

UMNO veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said the Auditor General’s report on 1MDB must be declassified and made available to MPs and the general public.

The Gua Musang MP also said it is untenable that the report has been classified as State secret under the Official Secrets Act.

"I have always maintained that for any comment on 1MDB to be meaningful, it has to be made upon the Auditor General’s Report on the subject being presented to Parliament," he said in a press statement today.

He said by allowing MPs access to the AG's report, it will put a stop to the anxiety and concern of the public who feel that they are denied the right to know the real situation.

"I make this call in consonance with the decision by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who had decided that the Auditor General should, once and for all, get to the bottom of the 1MDB issue and submit its findings as a report for the consideration of the Dewan Rakyat," he added.

He also pointed out that Article 107(1) of the Federal Constitution stated that the AG shall submit his report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who shall cause them to be laid before the House of Representatives.

"Nowhere in Article 107(1), which addresses the Reports of Auditor General, is there any mention of such reports to be classified as State secrets," he said.

"It would therefore be unconstitutional to prevent that report from being presented to the Dewan Rakyat," he added.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) tabled its report on the 1MDB in the Parliament on Apr 7.

Among the recommendations stated in the 106-page report, the PAC had urged authorities to investigate 1MDB's former CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and relevant parties.

READ: 1MDB's financial performance not satisfactory, PAC says

READ: PAC report: 5 key findings on 1MDB

Following the report, 1MDB's board of director had offered its resignation.

Although the report was tabled, support documents from the AG that accompany the PAC report on the administration of 1MDB is classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA).

PAC chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin said the AG had classified the 1MDB's final report under the OSA in light of information leaks on its interim report submitted last July.

Hasan had said it would be up to the AG to decide whether to lift the OSA declaration on the final 1MDB report or not, and only after the PAC has tabled its findings on the matter in Dewan Rakyat.

PAC began its probe on 1MDB on May 19 last year, focusing on its governance control management since it was incorporated in 2009 – after the Terengganu Investment Authority state fund – was turned into a federal agency.