Shahrir Samad naughty on PAC questions re Libra ECM merger

Last week I expressed my surprise when I posted PAC on KJ's ECM-Libra case - why was DAP member silent?

I was astounded by Shahrir Samad’s assertion that the PAC investigations on the ECM-Libra hit an unexpected snag, because when Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop came before PAC to answer the committee’s questions, no PAC member asked any question.

I commented that while I could understand BN members of PAC maintaining UMNO's practice of elegant silence, I wonder what happened to those opposition parliamentarians like DAP’s Tan Seng Giaw who is a PAC member.

The DAP members are known for their no nonsense vigilance on government lack of governance and dodgy deals, so indeed I was not only surprised but shocked that, according to the gospel by Shahrir, Tan had allowed the mouse to get away.

… which was why I asked in my previous post, ‘was Tan there’ or the PAC had held that hearing minus him?

I couldn’t believe Tan would have been that negligent - no way, not with a DAP chap!

Shahrir had complained then: “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?”

Well, a couple of days ago, Malaysiakini reported Tan Seng Giaw dismissing Shahrir’s assertion as a “guffaw” and did not reflect the true situation.

‘... as a guffaw ...’?

What did Tan or the Malaysiakini reporter mean? Maybe as a 'joke'?

OK, I promise not to guffaw ;-)

Anyway back to Tan - he said a copy of the concerned PAC meeting minutes tabled to Parliament in September showed there were three PAC members - PKR's Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and PAS' Kamaruddin Jaafar and of course himself - who questioned Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop over the merger in the meeting.

Tan said: “I asked a hell lot of questions, more than the questions that (the minister) wanted to answer.”

Tan said that the minister however avoided questions on the ECM Libra Avenue merger and merely wanted to comment about other matters.

Now, what does this make Shahrir Samad?

Shahrir has been one of those very rare UMNO MPs that I respect. Remember, he was the bloke who stood together with the Opposition in wanting to refer One-eyed Cyclops and his disgraceful dodginess to the Parliamentary Privilege Committee, which in the end unfortunately cost him (Shahrir) his job as Chair of the Backbenchers Club. Ho hum, so much for AAB's values!

But Tan’s revelation of his (Shahrir’s) lack of truth in alleging the Opposition members of PAC didn't quizz the 2nd Finance Minister has been a great disappointment to me personally, because it shatters the admirable image of Shahrir that I had entertained all these while.

Worse, I now wonder about Shahrir’s claim that the PAC found the ECM Libra Avenue merger was carried out according to procedure.

However, Shahrir was very careful to state that PAC is yet to conclude whether there was any issue of ‘conflict of interest’ by PM/Finance Minister AAB in allowing the merger to go through.

Malaysiakini quoted him as saying: “My personal view is that there is no corruption but there is a case of conflict of interest and (can be) questionable.”

Well, Yang Berhormat, where there is a 'conflict of interest', then the merger couldn’t have been carried out according to procedure. You just can’t have it both ways.

Alas, but I am more disappointed with Shahrir Samad for averring that the opposition members of the PAC didn’t ask questions of the evasive Second Finance Minister.

‘... evasive ...’!

Got it, Yang Berhormat? The accountable-to-PAC 2nd Finance Minister had, according to DAP Tan, avoided questions on the ECM Libra Avenue merger. Therefore we must ask the logical question of 'WHY'?

And a second 'WHY' on you too for saying what you said of the Opposition PAC members!