KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang wants Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Azmi Khalid disqualified from the parliamentary oversight body’s hearings on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal for refusing to summon key witnesses including a former MCA president.
Lim said Azmi should also be disqualified as he was a member of the Cabinet when it made decisions on bailing out the project.
The four key persons whom Azmi has refused to summon are Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, former Port Klang Authority chairman and current Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung and former PKFZ general manager O.C. Phang.
Azmi yesterday said that it was not necessary to call them for questioning, leaving the investigation of the four to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
The call for the four to be investigated was made by the opposition members of the PAC but Azmi, as chairman of the body, has the power to shoot down the demand.
Lim also singled out for blame Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat after members of the PAC were only granted restricted access to the PKFZ audit report.
Lim, in his blog posting today, rapped the transport minister, claiming that PAC members' access to the report was restricted with limited access to the appendices.
"I am shocked that despite the PAC meeting for the second day on the PKFZ scandal, Ong has still refused to release the appendices of the PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the PKFZ scandal to PAC members.
"(It allows) only restricted access to the appendices during PAC meetings when PAC members should be allowed a set of the appendices each for further study and research by themselves and their respective staff," he said.
This, Lim said, has made a mockery of parliamentary accountability and responsibility and demanded that Ong lift the restrictions or face a censure motion by Pakatan Rakyat MPs once Parliament convenes this Monday.
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