Former Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and former senator Ezam Mohd Noor may not have read and understood the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 106-page report, claims Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi.

The report contains the conclusions derived from the auditor-general's investigation and PAC's conclusions on 1MDB.

Puad said that if they had read it, they would not have asked that the report be declassified.

He said the conclusions of the auditor-general and PAC could be found on pages 103 to 106 and it was wrong for Muhyiddin to fault Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for classifying it when it was on the request of the auditor-general himself.

Puad also said PAC chairperson Hasan Arifin had on March 4 spoken of the need to categorise the final audit report on 1MDB as classified document.

This was based on the Audit Department's findings that information from its interim report was randomly leaked purposely to create a negative report.

“It is to undermine the credibility of the Audit Department and the PAC. The bits of the auditor-general's report can be taken randomly without fully knowing the context of the information,” Puad said.

“This would give rise to various speculations,” he said.

“In the end, the issue would be tried in the court of public opinion and by the media whereas the bipartisan PAC was given the authority to vet the report and make suggestions to the government on actions to be taken on 1MDB,” he said in a statement today

He claimed that Muhyiddin yesterday had lied and twisted the directive given by Najib on March 4, 2015, to the auditor-general to verify the 1MDB accounts and to pass its findings to the PAC for inspection.

Puad pointed out that Najib in his statement had said 1MDB and officials from the audit firm Deloitte would be called before the cabinet to explain.

“All this was explained in the prime minister's statement from day one that the report by the auditor-general would be given to PAC.

“Doesn't Muhyiddin understand simple language? Where is it stated that the report would be revealed to the public?”

“For Muhyiddin and Ezam's information, all these facts are included in the PAC report. Read the PAC report again,” Puad said.

He said that PAC was supposed to scrutinse and review the actions to be taken on 1MDB following the auditor-general's report.

“Why was PAC involved? PAC is important as it was given the authority to call those involved in the 1MDB issue to give explanations.

“PAC is important as it could give an objective view because it is bipartisan.

“After PAC had reviewed the auditor-general's report, it was given the authority to take follow-up action on the 1MDB issue.

“The details of the auditor-general's report cannot be revealed to the public on the request of the auditor-general who had classified them as official secrets,” he said.

Corporate governance

Puad said the PAC had noted the weaknesses of the 1MDB' s administration and the restrictions it faced in its corporate governance.

It had also called for further investigation on its former chief executive.

He said the government's duty after PAC had submitted its report was to implement the proposals, which were being done now along with investigations against the former 1MDB CEO.

“Investigations are being conducted by the police and action would be taken if there is any violation of the law.

“Why do Muhyiddin and the opposition want the documents to be declassified?” he asked.

He believed that their action was to ensure that 1MDB would be continuously tried by the media as they did not want to see it resolved.

They have the most to lose if the 1MDB issue is resolved, he added.

Yesterday, Muhyiddin alleged that Najib had forgotten his pledge he made a year ago when urging the people to be patient while waiting for the auditor-general's report on 1MDB.

Instead, portions of the official report had been classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA), he said.