Media Conference Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on
Monday, 1st December 2008:
Is Azmi going to emulate the example of the
Indian Home Minister and resign as PAC Chairman for his dismal failure
of leadership?
On November 11, Public Accounts Committee
(PAC) Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid had promised that the PAC report
on its inquiry into the RM1.6 billion Europter deal 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, and 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 the PAC would
investigate into three scandals which had shook Parliament and the
country – the Eurocopter helicopter, Bank International Indonesia (BII)
and the high speed broadband (HSBB) deals?
I had intended to table a motion to debate the PAC report on its inquiry
into the Eurocopter deal with Parliament having to make the final
decision whether to accept or reject the PAC report and recommendations,
but this PAC report must be tabled in Parliament latest by Wednesday,
3rd December 2008 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 December 18.
It is useless for Azmi to table the PAC report on the Eurocopter inquiry
after December 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 on Dec. 3? 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?
It would appear that Parliament would have to launch an inquiry into the
manner the PAC is inquiring or not inquiring into the various government
financial scandals and Azmi’s leadership or absence of leadership as PAC
Chairman.
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 that killed around 180 people,
including a Malaysian, for his dismal failure as PAC Chairman?
*
Lim
Kit Siang, DAP
Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor
http://dapmalaysia.org