Madinah submits documents to PAC

TAN Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad has handed over documents on claims that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) final audit report was tampered with to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The Auditor-General confirmed this when met by reporters at the Parliament lobby after spending three-and-a-half hours testifying before the PAC yesterday.

“I have handed over documents to the PAC. Those documents include the original audit report on 1MDB,” she said when asked for details.

“I have given my explanation to the PAC so it’s up to them to conduct further investigations,” said Dr Madinah.

PAC chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said Dr Madinah’s statement to the committee was in line with her press statement on Nov 25 that the 1MDB final audit report had been tampered with.

“She gave her explanation which was in line with her press statement. However, I cannot share the evidence,” he said when met at the Parliament lobby.

The PAC began its probe into the alleged tampering of the 1MDB audit report on Tuesday by calling former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang as the first witness.

Ambrin maintained his earlier stand that there was no tampering of the report.

The PAC would be recalling Ambrin and the team that assisted him in preparing the report for further questioning in January.

Besides Ambrin and the team, Dr Kiandee said National Audit Department’s former audit performance director Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad would be called in to testify.

Dr Kiandee had earlier said the PAC was not ruling out the possibility that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak might be called in for questioning.

Other individuals expected to be called in for questioning included former 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy, former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, former attorney general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and former Malaysia AntiCorruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad.

On Nov 23, it was reported that Najib had ordered the removal of his and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho’s involvement in the audit report of 1MDB.

Two days later, Dr Madinah confirmed the report, saying that two crucial deletions were made to the final report of 1MDB – one on the financial status of 1MDB and the other on the presence of Low at a meeting of the 1MDB board.