If the RM2.6 billion deposited into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s private bank accounts was intended for Umno, then why was the party’s deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin in the dark about it?
This question was posed today by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli in response to BN strategic communication director Abdul Rahman Dahlan who reiterated in a television interview yesterday that the amount was a political donation.
…Rafizi also criticised Rahman’s justification that such a massive amount was needed to wrest back states controlled by the federal opposition in the last general election….
He also pointed out that even if half of the sum was used for the general election, it would have exceeded the allowed RM200,000 spending threshold for parliamentary seats, according to electoral laws.
“It would mean all BN candidates in the 13th general election had violated election laws and their seats were illegally won,” he said
No wonder the PM sucked his teeth for a full month before coming out with this ‘excuse’, being parroted by the likes of the newly jumped-up Dahlan. It is hardly an ideal storyline.
Indeed, this claim of an ‘anonymous personal donation’, of a sum equal to the entire amount that Barak Obama raised for the last US general election, has raised far more questions than answers in Malaysia.
What we are being told is that this money was sent to the PM, but not for his “personal use”. Rather, we are led to understand it was to be spent on the election on behalf of BN.
Yet BN leaders, including Dr Mahathir, have made clear that under the rules no donation to the party should be made into a personal account of the Chairman (of course) and that there should be three signatories to every payment – the Chair, the Deputy and the Treasurer.
The Deputy has acknowledged he didn’t even know about the money.
As for those spending limits on the election, some Najib supporters have tried to imply that there are no limits for spending OUTSIDE of the election period – so they imply all those extra hundreds of millions of dollars over and above the limit could have been distributed prior to the calling of the election.
But, Najib received this money on 21st and 25th March 2013 – Parliament was dissolved on April 3rd. How did the PM manage to personally spend over half this secret sum on UMNO related matters in just over a week?
No wonder the PM took a full month before falling back on this very dodgy excuse. The only conclusion is that he couldn’t come up with a better one.