KUALA LUMPUR: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members refused to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA) when investigating Covid-19 vaccine procurement in January 2021, says Wong Kah Woh.
The former PAC chairman said this was one of the challenges PAC faced when probing the issue back then.
"The first thing that happened is that PAC members were given affidavits of secrecy to sign. However, none of us signed it," he said when debating the White Paper on Covid-19 Vaccine Procurement Management in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (June 8).
"Most importantly, the government must guarantee that the NDA clauses will not be used to deny the right of the people to know the real situation," he said.
Wong said with an NDA they could not share some information to the public.
"But it cannot stop elected representatives or lawmakers from investigating the issue of pricing.
"In the future, the government must learn from this NDA episode. It cannot be used as a factor or an excuse to block transparency," he added.
He also asked the government to explain why a premium had to be paid to procure the Sinovac vaccine although there was a delay in delivery by the supplier.
