The investigation into an alleged bond scandal involving billions of ringgit is a state secret unless the matter has been brought before a court of law, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Douglas Unggah Embas said that the Perbadanan Usahawan National Bhd (PUNB) bond scandal involving some RM19 billion is still under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

"All complaints must be kept confidential and cannot be made public by anyone unless the report is made to an ACA officer or public prosecutor," he said.

"This will have to wait until the accused is brought to court for a conviction under the Act or any other law related to the complaint," he added, in a written statement.

He said this ruling has been effective since Jan 8, 1998, under section 21 (4) of the 1997 ACA Act.

He added that the ruling clearly prohibits any revelation of complaints made by any party unless the revelation was made by ACA officers or the attorney-general.

Douglas was responding to Keadilan Member of Parliament from Permatang Pauh Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who asked the minister to state the status of the investigation by ACA on the fake bonds issued by a PUNB officer.

She also queried why no action has been taken thus far.

Gag order

ACA began investigations into the PUNB scandal in January upon receiving information that the company had issued bonds worth US$5 billion (RM19 billion) without the approval of the finance ministry.

The fraudulent bonds, dated Oct 13, 2000, have a 10-year maturity date and carried the signatures of the chief executive officer and secretary of PUNB.

PUNB is a company set up in 1991 by the government to encourage Malay entrepreneurs.

It was reported that at least three top executives could be involved in the case and that ACA had questioned eight people, including a PUNB senior executive, who was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport when he returned from London.

ACA officials have also spoken to various people in Singapore and the UK and seized the bond certificates which were sent to a British broker in London to be marketed.

The case was classified as abuse of power, an offence under section 15 of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

Former ACA director-general Ahmad Zaki Husin had told the press on Feb 19 that the agency was in the final stages of its probe into the scam and that investigations would be completed in a week.

However, two months later, the agency had yet to reveal anything and its new director-general Zulkifli Mat Noor who took office on April 2 had put a gag order on ACA officials.