BN's Simpang Renggam MP Liang Teck Meng could face censure for having ‘misled the Dewan Rakyat’ in saying that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim “owns 20 foreign bank accounts”.

NONE PKR is bent on referring him to the House committee on rights and privileges, unless he retracts his allegation today.

Liang had cited a "WikiLeaks cable" as the source of his claim when debating the motion of thanks on the royal address yesterday.

PKR deputy whip Sim Tze Sin ( left ) told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today that the information is not available on WikiLeaks and that it was merely an allegation in a pro-Umno blog.

"He owes the House an explanation about where he got his data from," Sim said.

Fellow PKR deputy whip Darell Leiking, who is the MP for Penampang, challenged Liang to repeat his allegations outside the Dewan Rakyat.

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli urged on Liang to "not hide behind the immunity to slander someone".

He also reminded all BN backbenchers to watch their conduct and think twice before making statements that are slanderous against opposition leaders, especially Anwar, who in the past had become a favourite target for BN backbenchers.

"They must remember we (Pakatan) actually have more backbenchers. They have 82, we have 89. We will come out in full force if they ever abuse the House privileges again," Rafizi warned.

MP refused to retract or apologise

According to Bernama , Liang later refused to retract or apologise for his allegations.

He also said the call by opposition MPs to refer him to the committee was aimed at deflecting attention and preventing the government from investigating the matter.

"I only asked for an investigation, if it's not true, why refer me to rights and privilege committee. Referring me to the committee looks like an attempt to prevent the government from investigating it," he was quoted as saying at the Dewan Rakyat lobby.

NONE Anwar and several Pakatan MPs had earlier this morning demanded that Liang should retract his allegation or face the committee.

Anwar also denied that there was any information on him purportedly having a bank account in Israel, posted on the Wikileaks site as claimed by Liang.

"I have checked Wikileaks, there's no such claim mentioning me or an Israel bank account on the site," he told reporters.

According to the news agency, Anwar then blamed an Umno blogger for the allegation saying it was baseless.

Meanwhile, Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) raised Standing Order 36 (9) to refer Liang to the committee for abuse of privilege for touching upon Anwar's personal matters which were unrelated to his duties as an MP.

The Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia finally concluded that he would obtain an explanation from Liang on the allegations and if he was still adamant about it a motion could be tabled to refer him to the rights committee.

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