Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw has contradicted fellow Public Account's Committee (PAC) member DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua on who is to blame for the 1MDB saga.

Tan points the finger squarely at the firm's management whereas Pua puts the blame on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"No. We have looked at all of it, we saw that he (Najib) was not directly involved. It is only that his name came up as a member of the advisory board, his name only appeared,” said Tan.

“After that there was nothing, mostly it involved the management. This is the rule of law: you can't condemn a person until he was proven guilty," he said when met at the Parliament lobby today.

Pua, on the other hand, said that Najib should be held responsible for the mismanagement of 1MDB, even though the PAC report does not explicitly finger him.

Asked why is the prime minister mentioned in the PAC report on alleged mismanagement in 1MDB, he said this was because Najib was the chairperson of the sovereign fund's advisory board, which is a matter of public record.

"This is what you are referring to really. But in the dealing with the investigation, the prime minister was not actually involved in those things. But he is the chairman of the advisory board," he explained.

He also said that Najib should not be held responsible and accountable for the actions or inactions of the 1MDB board of directors and management.

"Those are the people who ran things. So it is these people that we have to probe; this will be the correct thing to do. Legally speaking, how can you take action on people who have done nothing?" he asked.

First step

Queried on the possibility that the advisory board may have had a hand in the direction that the 1MDB took in its business dealing, Tan reiterated said that it was the executive board that must be looked at.

"Let us look at the people who are directly involved. What actually went right and went wrong. That will be the first step to take. In Malaysia, we should practise the rule of law. No one is guilty until proven guilty," he added.

Asked to clarify again about his view that Najib has no hand in 1MDB and the mismanagement that the PAC report highlighted, he said.

"No, we cannot say that (the prime minister is involved in 1MDB). We can't say anything (like that), the company was run by the management, the CEO ran the business, with the board of directors looking over his shoulder," he said.

Tan added that the job of the PAC was to propose recommendations and it has done so – asking the authorities to investigate 1MDB further and take action against the management if it had been proven to have committed any crime.

This morning, the PAC tabled its report on the debt-ridden government investment arm after months of investigation. The report pinned the blame for the sorry state of the company on its management, recommending that the authorities investigate and take legal action if criminal acts are proven.