INDIVIDUALS with government positions who are implicated in the Pandora Papers leak will be asked to provide an explanation in Parliament soon, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“I want to give a commitment that I will discuss with the Prime Minister so those who are involved in the Pandora Papers, which I typed-out at the bottom note (of the paper I’m holding), will be contacted for an explanation. Their personal explanations can be made in Parliament,” he told Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian).
Ahmad asked whether those with government positions and have been implicated in the Pandora Papers will provide an explanation in Parliament.
The matter was also raised by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) who wanted a guarantee from Wan Junaidi that the matter will be investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the police’s Commercial Crimes Department.
In response, Wan Junaidi said he will invite all the investigating bodies mentioned by Anwar to probe those involved in the Pandora Papers.
“I will invite the MACC, BNM, the police’s Commercial Crimes Department and other bodies to brief the Prime Minister that investigations should commence,” he added.
Earlier, Wan Junaidi said the MACC has not commenced any investigation on the Pandora Papers.
“But it is still in the process of holding discussions with other relevant agencies including the BNM in order to ensure that investigation coordination regarding this matter runs smoothly,” he added.
On the opening of offshore accounts, he said it was not an offence under Malaysian law, but action would be taken if there was evidence of criminal misconduct by any individual or company.
Meanwhile, Wan Junaidi said unlicensed remittance activities are being monitored by BNM.
Between 2017 and 2020, 64 unlicensed remittance activities were charged in court, involving RM11mil in fines and forfeiture of property, he said.
The Pandora Papers refers to a data leak involving some 2.94 terabytes of data which cited the opening of offshore accounts involving former and current government and political leaders around the world, including Malaysia.
Among those named in the Pandora Papers as having offshore accounts were Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, former deputy prime minister and Bagan Datuk MP Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Selayang PKR MP William Leong.
