KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) opened their own investigation into troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) without waiting for the Auditor-General's (A-G) report as the issue had turned political, its chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.

He said although the bipartisan committee had initially wanted to wait for the A-G's report, they unanimously decided to launch their own proceedings when accusations were thrown against Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno in particular.

"Many have questioned why PAC had not waited for the A-G's report that will present its initial findings to the committee at the end of June.

"PAC wanted to wait but decided to begin 1MDB proceedings after taking into account many factors that has caused concern to the people, and especially when it changed to a political issue with many accusations thrown against BN and Umno," the Umno lawmaker wrote in his column in The Malaysian Insider today.

The crisss surrounding the state investment fund invited all sorts of criticism and perception, and has become an "ammunition" for Pakatan Rakyat to attack the BN government, Nur Jazlan said.

"It has been the main ammunition for PR to slam the BN government, especially Putrajaya under Datuk Seri Najib Razak in administration, financial management and abuse of power and has now spiralled to the private and family issues of the government's No 1 leader," he added.

Nur Jazlan said the parliamentary committee was part of the legislative arm and had powers and responsibilities according to law, to investigate any government-owned company that used the people's money or any public funds.

"And this investigation on 1MDB is not the first the PAC, led by me, has done, we have launched proceedings on the klia2 project last year," he added.

"Taking that example, the PAC took almost a year to complete the report which was eventually presented to the Dewan Rakyat last November."

PAC members, comprising 8 BN parliamentarians and 5 from the opposition, unanimously decided to begin proceedings on 1MDB in a special meeting on April 30.

Nur Jazlan had previously said PAC could not wait for the A-G's report on the troubled company as there was too much speculation by the public over the investment firm's financial standing.

This comes after Najib, who chairs 1MDB's advisory board, ordered the A-G to look into the company's books, saying the report would be passed for transparency inspection to PAC.

Criticism has been mounting over 1MDB after it raked up RM42 billion in debts since its formation in 2009.

Najib has come under fire over the fund's debts, reports of mismanagement and dubious dealings, with his supporter-turned-critic Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad calling for his resignation over the controversy.

PAC began its probe into 1MDB on May 19 with Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who is also a board member of 1MDB, as well as director-general of the Economic Planning Unit Datuk Seri Dr Rahmat Bivi Abdulla.

Last week, international auditor Deloitte gave their statement to PAC, while 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former CEO Datuk Shahrul Azral Ibrahim Halmi are expected to meet them in August after skipping a previous hearing date.

Nur Jazlan said 1MDB investigations cannot just include the company's financial standing or debts but must go back to the history of its inception.

"This is important to ensure that every angle and scope of 1MDB is investigated to come up with a report that is really comprehensive, transparent, fair and not lopsided," he added.