Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Shahrir Abdul Samad's remark that 'no question' was posed to a minister at the high-profile ECM Libra Avenue investigation has been disputed.

His deputy Dr Tan Seng Giaw dismissed Shahrir's claim - made in an interview with Malaysiakini published since Tuesday - as a "guffaw" and did not reflect the true situation.

Indeed, he said a copy of the concerned PAC meeting minutes tabled to Parliament in September showed there were three PAC members - including himself - who questioned Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop over the merger in the meeting.

"I asked a hell lot of questions, more than the questions that (the minister) wanted to answer," Tan, the DAP's Kepong parliamentarian told Malaysiakini today.

According to him, the minister however avoided questions on the ECM Libra Avenue merger and merely wanted to comment about other matters relating to government-linked companies (GLCs) in general.

The two other PAC members who quizzed Nor were Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) and Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat).

"Shahrir himself did not ask question on ECM Libra but only on GLCs. I don't know why he made the claim (that no question was asked), he should just shut up," an annoyed Tan said.

What's the real problem?

According to Tan's media statement yesterday which quoted part of the PAC minutes, Nor - in response to several questions from the DAP MP on the merger - replied: "We sold ECM Libra and was chided, we bought Pantai Holdings also got chided.

"Both got us into trouble. Bought also wrong, sold also wrong. But anyway, we addressed it now but there will be another forum that we can decide...."

Tan said the PAC chief's claim tantamounts to an "insult" to all PAC members including the Barisan Nasional parliamentarians sitting in the committee. There are 14 members in the bi-partisan PAC.

Asked on the actual problem that derailed the probe, the Kepong MP replied: "The problem is the (finance) ministry wants to close the matter and sweep it under the carpet."

In the interview, Shahrir - who is also BN's Johor Baru MP - said investigations into the ECM Libra Avenue has hit an unexpected snag.

"He (Nor) came (before PAC). He was there to answer our questions but unfortunately, [pauses] no questions were asked," he had said.

"I guided everybody to a point that anyone could have picked up from where the minutes left off but... nobody did. Why do I always have to do the work?" Shahrir added in the interview.

The merger raised eyebrows after Umno Youth vice chief and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin took a loan in 2005 to acquire a RM9.2 million three-percent stake in ECM Libra, an investment advisory group.

After this, the government approved a merger between ECM Libra and the government-owned financial services company Avenue Capital. The new entity was known as ECM Libra Avenue.

Following an outcry, Khairy relinquished all his shares in August last year. The PAC found that the merger was carried out according to procedure but has yet to conclude if there was any conflict of interest.

Shahrir said he personally opined there was no corruption element involved in the merger but it was a case of conflict of interest.