Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua believes there are powerful forces, who had put words in the mouth of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Hasan Arifin to attack him.

He cited a Bernama news report yesterday which originally quoted Hasan as calling Pua a “political opportunist” who was being “annoying” for allegedly smearing the PAC report on 1MDB.

The report has since been rectified. Pua said Hasan had ordered the edit, as he had never used such terms to describe anyone before.

“In this particular instance, I verily believe him as he made the extra effort to inform all PAC members of this misreporting by Bernama .

“However, the above incident has only made it clear that there are powerful forces behind the scenes attempting to take control of the narrative via official news government and Umno-controlled news sources like Bernama , the New Straits Times ( NST ) and Utusan Malaysia .

“It appears that someone has put words into the mouth of the PAC chairperson specifically to conduct a character assassination exercise,” Pua said in a statement today.

The DAP lawmaker has said that he is 80 percent satisfied with the PAC report, which he said had been made on a bipartisan consensus.

The report had among others recommended that former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Halmi be held responsible for the firm’s weaknesses.

It also recommended that Article 117 of 1MDB's Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) which requires the prime minister to approve major decisions, be abolished.