However, Azhar told the House he would only allow the debate to be conducted in the Special Chamber at 2.30pm today as he did not want to interrupt proceedings, noting that today’s sitting was meant to focus on the motion of thanks for the royal address.
While Anwar thanked Azhar for allowing the motion, he insisted that it be debated in the main chamber as it was urgent and of national significance.
“It also (affects) BNM’s (Bank Negara Malaysia) image and the country’s honour. I don’t think this should be brought to the Special Chamber. It should be debated here,” he said.
Introduced in 2016, the Special Chamber runs parallel with the Dewan Rakyat and allows issues of national importance or urgency to be discussed without interrupting the Dewan Rakyat’s normal proceedings. It is also televised to allow the media to report on proceedings.
Yesterday, Anwar called for Azhar to allow a debate on Leissner’s allegations of bribery, abuse of power and malpractice within institutions such as BNM in relation to the 1MDB scandal.
Leissner is the star witness in the trial of former Goldman Sachs Malaysia banker Roger Ng, which is taking place at the Brooklyn federal court in New York.
Last week, he told the jury that BNM approved an “overnight” US$1 billion foreign exchange transfer from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI) after the husband of then BNM governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz allegedly received a bribe “to make it happen”.
He could not confirm whether a bribe was paid when asked by prosecutors. Zeti’s husband, Tawfiq Ayman, has denied the allegation.
Leissner also told the jury he bought former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group CEO Rohana Rozhan a US$10 million (RM42 million) property in London in 2013 after she blackmailed him following their breakup and threatened to expose his involvement in 1MDB.
Describing the 1MBD scandal as the biggest corruption case in the world, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu (PH-Kota Raja) questioned why Azhar did not want to allow Anwar’s motion to be debated in the main House.
He also sarcastically noted that Leissner’s testimony had highlighted “the greatness of Malaysian women now”, in reference to the property Rohana received.
However, Azhar insisted that the debate would take place in the Special Chamber.
“I agree YB. Women have always been great even before this,” said Azhar. “So, that is my ruling.”