DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang wants to know whether Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Hasan Arifin told a deliberate lie when he said that "most PAC members are overseas" when the overwhelming majority of them are in the country.

He said with their presence in the country, there was more than a comfortable PAC quorum.

Lim asked Hasan whether the latter himself had scurried overseas on Tuesday to give some semblance to his "tall tale" that "most PAC members are overseas" to justify the last-minute cancellation of the PAC meetings yesterday and today, which even MCA and Gerakan MPs on PAC had no advance notice.

He also urged Hassan to reveal where he has been abroad, and what was he doing there when the PAC was scheduled to hold its meetings for the important conclusive stage of the PAC investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

"Hasan should realise that if he is in the military, he would have been court-martialled and given the supreme penalty if he had abandoned his station and duties at the most crucial and critical hour."

In a statement today, the MP for Gelang Patah claimed he has reason to believe that Hasan was not speaking the truth when he said that "most PAC members are overseas".

"Is it not true that only two PAC members were overseas to perform the umrah – Ahmad Hamzah (Jasin) and Nawawi Ahmad (Langkawi)?

"Hasan's scurrying overseas to make an infamous 'trio' of PAC members abroad is a most irresponsible and even cowardly act."

Lim said the question now arises as to whether Hasan could be trusted that the two postponed PAC meetings would be held in the first week of March before Parliament reconvenes on March 7.

"Is this the reason why Hasan has not made any public announcement as to when the PAC would meet before Parliament reconvenes on March 7 for the auditor-general to submit his final audit report on the 1MDB?"

He said while everyone wanted the speediest end to the mystery of the 1MDB scandal, the PAC chairperson was doing the very opposite – refusing to honour the scheduled PAC meetings for the auditor-general to submit his final audit report on 1MDB, and wanting to cause further delays.

"No PAC chairperson in Malaysia had committed a greater breach of parliamentary privilege than Hasan, who will go down in Malaysian parliamentary history as the most well-known but most infamous PAC chairperson."

The tabling of the auditor-general's report on 1MDB to PAC has been postponed to the first week of March.

On Tuesday, Hasan said the auditor-general's report would not be tabled as scheduled because most PAC members are overseas.

"It's important that all PAC members are present to hear the audit report on 1MDB.

"As such, the audit report on 1MDB will be tabled on a new date, expected to be in the first week of March."

Malaysiakini has tried to contact Hasan for response.