KUALA LUMPUR – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has given a government guarantee that the authorities will investigate the Pandora Papers and individuals named in the exposé.
Speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today, Wan Junaidi was replying to a question on the matter from opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-PH).
“I give the guarantee to His Honourable Port Dickson that I will invite all the agencies that you spoke of earlier – Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia, the police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Internal Revenue Department – to receive instructions from the prime minister to investigate this matter, as I said earlier.
“God willing, we will discuss the matter and then decide when to give an answer to Parliament, once the decision has been made,” said Wan Junaidi.
In his first supplementary question, Anwar had lambasted the government for ignoring previous international exposé, such as the 2012 Global Financial Integrity (GFI) Illicit Outflow Report on Developing Countries and the 2016 Panama Papers.
Despite assurances from Wan Junaidi, however, Anwar continued to press on the issue, saying that because there were no such investigations in the past, what good is a guarantee that Putrajaya will look into the matter this time.
“God willing (we will investigate). That was a different government. Now, please give the prime minister a chance and I, who sit back here, give a guarantee that we will take action, even if it goes back to 2012,” Wan Junaidi responded in reiterating his assurances.
Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (Pontian-BN) then suggested that the government call in those who were named in the papers to explain their position to the lower house, citing Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datok-BN) as examples.
Wan Junaidi then gave his guarantee to the Umno backbencher, saying he will raise the matter with the prime minister to request or demand the individuals give a personal explanation of the claims in the Pandora Papers.
Earlier, he had told the lower house that under the law, it is not illegal for individuals or companies to own offshore accounts but that the authorities will look into any illegal transactions. – The Vibes, October 25, 2021
