William Leong: 'Those who lied to PAC can be jailed up to three years'

Those who lied to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) can be jailed up to three years, said Selayang MP William Leong.

The PKR lawmaker cited Section 20 of the Houses of Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act which states that those who give false testimony to the House or any House committee can be charged under Section 193 of the Penal Code for giving false evidence.

This is in regard to the PAC report on 1MDB, and the unravelling of information that followed including International Petroleum Investment Co's (IPIC’s) statement that it had no links to Aabar British Virgin Islands.

"Those who have testified before the auditor-general and the PAC have not told the truth,” said Leong who is a PAC member.

"The IPIC's announcements have further exposed that those who testified before the auditor-general and the PAC have withheld vital information and have given false and misleading evidence," he said at a press conference outside the Parliament lobby today.

1MDB had paid US$3.5 billion to Aabar BVI after allegedly being assured by former IPIC and Aabar Investment executives that the BVI company was legitimate.

The executives, Khadem Al Qubaisi and Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, have both left IPIC and Aabar respectively, and are reportedly being probed by Abu Dhabi authorities.

Aabar BVI had been shut down last year.

Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has called for the PAC to reconvene following IPIC’s termination of its debt-asset swap deal with 1MDB.

"This is because 1MDB had given false impression that its rationalisation plan was going smoothly and that 1MDB would not need help from the government to pay off its debts that exceed RM50 billion," he said.

IPIC in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday said 1MDB and the Finance Ministry had defaulted on a RM1.1 billion owed to the Abu Dhabi fund.

As a result, IPIC said it and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS obligation in the binding term sheet has been terminated.

The Finance Ministry in response said it would honour all its outstanding commitments without going into specifics.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/338367