A PARLIAMENTARY committee’s inquiry into problems involving the vehicle entry permit (VEP) system which implicates the Barisan Nasional candidate in the Tg Piai by-election should not be used as campaign fodder, the committee’s chief said today.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Noraini Ahmad said the committee has not completed inquiry proceedings and to raise the matter in public was a violation of the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Orders.

She said the Standing Orders stipulated that any statement given to a parliamentary select committee cannot be disclosed to the public before the committee tabled its report to the house.

“Therefore, all statements and documents in PAC proceedings are categorised as secret and cannot be discussed outside of proceedings.

“The PAC has not completed its proceedings (into the VEP)… and it is therefore highly irresponsible to connect any party involved in the proceeding, or use the PAC’s name, in the Tg Piai by-election campaign,” Noraini said in a statement today.

This follows police reports lodged against BN candidate Wee Jeck Seng yesterday over the VEP, a BN-era project, which was found to be problematic by the auditor-general in a 2017 report.

The auditor-general’s report found problems with the system such as drastic hikes in operational expenditure and the fact that the project’s contractor TCSens Sdn Bhd had only RM35 in its accounts when it took on the project.

Wee is allegedly connected to TCSens, which was awarded the project through direct negotiations instead of an open tender.

Wee has slammed the police reports as politically motivated.

Noraini said the PAC has no prosecution powers and its proceedings were not aimed at deciding whether one was guilty or not of corruption.

To date, PAC has held five proceedings on the VEP and is to prepare a final report for the government, she said. – November 6, 2019.