PAC may call up Najib as witness

> New 1MDB probe extension of previous one, says Kiandee

KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will call up new witnesses in its investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and did not discount the possibility that Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak would be one of them.

Commenting on the motion filed by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for the PAC and auditor-general (AG) to reinitiate 1MDB investigations, PAC chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee ( pix) said any future probe would be an extension of the previous investigation.

He said the PAC would first be briefed by AG Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad on what information has been obtained from the previous investigation.

“(On Najib) it is too early to determine who will be called as we have to base our probe on the terms of reference.

“The matter will be decided soon,” he told a press conference after attending a meeting with Madinah and other PAC members in Parliament yesterday.

Any findings from its investigation would also be presented to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, aside from the Parliament.

Under the previous administration, PAC had initiated a probe into 1MDB, with its findings published in April 2016, which concluded that Najib was not involved in any wrongdoing, and that the board of directors should be held accountable instead.

Kiandee said the committee has also agreed to initiate a probe on the allegation by the federal government that over RM18 billion was missing from a trust fund meant for the goods and services tax refunds.