The government has been told to disclose the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB to prove that whistleblower site Sarawak Report had misled the public.

Commenting on Multimedia and Communications Minister Salleh Said Keruak's statement yesterday on the website's exposes, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said it was best to "fight facts with facts".

"By (revealing) the authentic auditor-general’s report, the government through its various media can show where Sarawak Report has erred, and how it has misled the people, as Salleh alleges," he said in a statement today.

The London-based website has been publishing excerpts and details of what it claims is the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB, which the government has kept from public view via the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

The classification of the document under the OSA was the reason it was prevented from being tabled in Parliament in the previous session.

Yesterday, Salleh claimed the website was "misleading" the public with its articles and argued that the auditor-general’s report was only "one component of many " of the final public accounts committee (PAC) report on 1MDB.

Why fear disclosure?

Tuan Ibrahim urged the audit report to be disclosed immediately in order to allay Salleh and the government's concerns and to "stop Sarawak Report from continuing to mislead the public".

The government's efforts to block web access to the website had apparently failed to "stop the website from misleading the Malaysian public", he added.

"Besides, all the internal critics of 1MDB such as former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and (ex-minister) Shafie Apdal are no longer Umno members.

"So what is there to be worried about?" he asked.

The government has been widely criticised for classifying the audit under the OSA.

Last week, constitutional law professor Abdul Aziz Bari said according to federal constitution, the report should be tabled and the government has no discretion on the matter.

"(To keep the report classified) is wrong, especially in light of Article 107(1). The government cannot withhold the auditor-general's report,"  said Aziz.

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