By BERNAMA 

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is prepared to investigate the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal if there is any request for it, said its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (picture).

“The PAC is set up by the Parliament and we too are responsible to the Parliament and the PAC report will be returned to Parliament. If there is such a motion, the PAC will certainly investigate,” he said after a PAC meeting at the Parliament building yesterday.

Asked whether former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak would be called up during the proceedings on 1MDB, Kiandee said the matter was too early to decide because the PAC must be guided by the terms of reference which would be set up and the investigation strategy beforehand.

“Definitely we will ask the Auditor-General (AG) first to brief us on what was the extent of investigation done before this. Because we are the new committee,” he said.

He explained that his focus now is to study the AG’s Report and two major issues that he declined to disclose, and all these matters would take a long time to resolve.

He said he is also prepared to investigate the issue on the disappearance of the tax inputs for the collection of the Goods and Services Tax amounting to RM18 billion, which was alleged by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to have been “robbed” by the previous government.

Najib said he would not object to the proposed reopening of the 1MDB investigation by PAC as “the truth should be known”.

“I have nothing to object because we want to learn the truth. So, now if PAC wants to reopen (the) 1MDB (probe), it is their right but don’t go on a fault-finding mode,” Najib told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday. — Bernama