Still no sign of PAC's Eurocopter report
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has yet to furnish a report on its inquiry into the RM1.6 billion Eurocopter deal and DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang is not pleased.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has yet to furnish a report on its inquiry into the RM1.6 billion Eurocopter deal and DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang is not pleased.
On Nov 11, Lim said PAC chairperson Azmi Khalid had promised that the committee’s report would be tabled in Parliament "in two or three days".
"How can Azmi's interpretation of 'two or three days' be so elastic as to stretch to three weeks?" he asked in a statement today.
"There are still no signs of the PAC report on its inquiry into the Eurocopter deal although it is now close to 50 days since Azmi first made the public announcement that PAC would investigate into three scandals which had shook Parliament and the country – Eurocopter, Bank International Indonesia (BII) and the high speed broadband (HSBB) deals?
"I intended to table a motion to debate the PAC report with Parliament having to make the final decision whether to accept or reject the PAC report and recommendations.
"But this report must be tabled in Parliament latest by Wednesday, Dec 3, so that I could give the necessary 14-day notice required for a motion to be debated on the last parliamentary sitting of the current budget meeting on Dec 18," he added.
PAC needs to be probed
Lim said it would be useless for Azmi to table the PAC report on the Eurocopter inquiry after Dec 3 because it would not be possible for MPs to give the requisite notice to debate it as a specific motion.
"Can Azmi table the PAC report on the Eurocopter inquiry latest by Wednesday? What has happened to Azmi's announcement that PAC would be investigating into the other two scandals – the BII and HSBB scandals?
"What about the new scandals that have surfaced in the past weeks like the RM50 million financial scandals of Tourism Ministry's Pempena Group of Companies?" he added.
Lim said it appears that Parliament would have to launch an inquiry into the manner PAC "is inquiring or not inquiring" into the various government financial scandals and Azmi's "leadership or absence of leadership" as PAC chairperson.
"Is Azmi prepared to emulate the example and culture of responsibility as illustrated by the Indian Home Minister, Shivraj Patil who resigned over the three-day terrorist rampage in Mumbai, for his dismal failure as PAC chairperson?" he questioned.
On Nov 3, Azmi had revealed that PAC did not find any procedural abuse in the Eurocopter tender process.
However, the powerful committee was concerned that there was no physical examination on the 12 Eurocopter helicopters which the government wanted to purchase.
It has however yet to table a written report on the matter.
