Calling the Parliament question time a joke, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said it was no different to how he had five questions with regard to 1MDB rejected in the last parliamentary sitting in July.
“This round, I have three questions, in part because I submitted fewer questions on 1MDB to avoid too many questions being thrown out.
“However, the basis of rejecting the questions I had posed remained completely untenable,” he said in a statement today.
The DAP national publicity secretary specifically referred to one question on “whether 1MDB’s settlement to Abu Dhabi’s IPIC was funded through the monetisation of 1MDB investment ‘units’ and/or whether the finance ministry had helped support these payments either directly or indirectly”.
“However, I received a rejection letter from the Speaker claiming that the question could not be answered presumably because it would be subjudice as ‘the matter is in court’.
“But the above payment which is part of an agreed settlement with IPIC has nothing to do with any court, whether in Malaysia or anywhere around the world,” Pua said, adding that he did not even ask about the “settlement” itself.
The DAP lawmaker was referring to the payment of US$600 million by 1MDB to International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) in August, as part of the settlement arrived at the London Arbitration Court between IPIC, 1MDB and the government in April this year.
“I merely asked if the ministry helped 1MDB, directly or indirectly, with the US$600 million payment to IPIC which was made in the month of August. Hence, how is this in any way related to any court case?”
Pua said it was ridiculous for 1MDB to first claim in April that the payment would be funded by the monetisation of investment “units”, then change its tune in August, saying that the payments were funded through “proceeds of the on-going rationalisation programme”.
“With 1MDB making all sorts of conflicting and vague statements to the public, why can’t MPs have some recourse to obtain clarification or confirmation from the relevant minister?.
“Both 1MDB and the ministry need to come clean about the source of these payments.
“The refusal to respond has only confirmed the suspicions that the finance ministry has indeed conducted an emergency RM2.5 billion bailout of 1MDB in August this year,” Pua said.
He said he will raise the same question again in his speech in the current parliamentary sitting.