Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said he has no power to sack DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua from the Public Accounts Committee.

Pandikar said this today in response to calls from certain quarters that Pua step down from the PAC  - of which he is a member  - until it is clear he is not the opposition member who met ex-PetroSaudi International executive Xavier Justo in Bangkok.

Justo has been arrested by Thai police on charges he blackmailed PetroSaudi over documents he possessed.

Thai police have said that two Malaysian politicians from the government and the opposition had met Justo over these documents detailing controversial deals involving state-owned 1MDB.

Malaysian government figures have alleged that the information obtained from Justo was tampered with in an attempt to smear Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak by linking him to dubious dealings involving 1MDB.

Pua ( photo ) has been a strident critic of the debt-laden 1MDB, with the Finance Ministry agency languishing under a debt of RM42 billion.

The PAC is currently conducting a hearing into the matter.

Responding to calls that Pua steps down, Pandikar said: "I don't have the power to sack anybody.”

Only the august House, he added, which approves the names of committee members in the first place, can remove PAC members.

'Don't put me into trouble'

Several Umno ministers and MPs have called for the PAC to exclude Pua in order to uphold its integrity in its 1MDB probe.

Asked whether Pua would be able to perform his duty, Pandikar said all members of the House and its committees could perform their duties, though some 'overdid' it.

Pandikar, who termed these as political issues, cautioned the media not to drag him into politics.

Asked if Najib, who is being investigated on a claim that RM2.6 billion of 1MDB's money was deposited into his personal account, should either take leave or resign, he said: "I am not in position to (comment). Don't put me into trouble."

BN Backbenchers Council (BNBBC) chairman Shahrir Abdul Samad ( photo ) opined that Pua should resign from PAC for the sake of its integrity if he had met Justo.

 

Pua should have told the public if he had met the Swiss national, who was arrested for extortion in Thailand, he said.

 

To a question if the backbenchers’ council would take action to prohibit Pua from sitting in the committee, he replied that the BNBBC had not made any decision as yet.

 

If proves true that Pua had met Justo, then Pua was not fit to be a MP, commented Abu Zahar Ujang, president of the Senate House.

 

"When the elected representatives take the oath upon appointment, they swear to be loyal to the government and protect the Federal Constitution.

 

"If they do not respect (their oath), then they are not fit to be MPs," he said.

 

Any politician not happy with the ruling party, can bid for change through a general election, but not by going to the streets or other means, he added.