N Surendran, in a statement, said debate or questions in Parliament cannot be disallowed if it relates to a matter of national importance, even though a related case is pending in court.

This, he added, was a view shared by other Commonwealth Parliaments, including the UK’s House of Commons.

The Padang Serai MP said there was no doubt the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd that was deposited into the Prime Minister’s personal accounts were issues that implicated Najib Razak in a massive financial scandal with international ramifications.

He was commenting on Azalina’s statement yesterday that the government would not answer any more questions on the donations as the Bar had filed a judicial review on the Attorney-General’s decision.

Surendran also said that Azalina misunderstood the nature and scope of a judicial review, explaining that it was a review of the manner in which a public authority, which in this case was the AG, had made a decision.

“The Bar’s case is not about the merits or truth of the allegations against the PM on the 2.6 billion and SRC International.”

Therefore, any discussion by the Dewan Rakyat on these matters cannot be sub judice as the court was not concerned with the truth or otherwise of the allegations against the PM, he added.

The court, Surendren said, was only concerned as to whether the AG exercised his powers in accordance with the law.

“Hence, discussions in the Dewan on the matter will not carry any danger of prejudicing the court proceedings.”