A free-for-all seems to have broken out among Sabah Umno leaders with political rivals of Shafie Apdal suspected of instigating the sudden revival of a sex scandal involving starlet Zahida Rafik to embarrass the federal minister for rural and regional development.
"We are surprised to hear that the MACC has finally agreed to guestion Zahida's driver. Why now? In the past, we had lodged so many reports but these were ignored and swept under the carpet by the authorities, so the question remains - why now? And who is behind the MACC's sudden decision to take action, who is so powerful who can make the MACC do its job," Zuraida Kamaruddin, the PKR MP for Ampang, who had exposed the scandal last year.
The Opposition lawmaker was referring to news that Zahida's driver, Noor Azman Azemi, had been called up by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to give his statement over the scandal.
RM1.5mil in 4 months, marriage in London & a RM3mil bungalow in Ampang area
Azman had lodged a police report claiming that Shafie had hired him as a driver for Zahida, and further revelaed that the minister and the starlet had been in an intimate relationship for 3 years.
More shocking was Azman's expose that Shafie had over a 4-month period asked him to deposit money worth at least RM1.5mil into Zahida's bank account. The news had sparked a public outcry and concern about the extent of Shafie's alleged corruption as such a sum would be beyond his income as a Cabinet minister.
Although Azman had furnished some payment slips, the police and the MACC had snubbed his reports while Zahida accused him of trying to tarnish her reputation because she had sacked him for absconding with RM200,000 of her money. Both she and Shafie have denied any relationship.
Nonetheless, speculation has not stopped and Shafie has been accused of marrying her in London as his second wife (polygamy is allowed under Muslim law) and even buying her a luxurious bungalow in Ampang area worth at least RM3 mil.
All eyes are now on what the MACC quizzed Azman on.
Making it tough for Najib to field Shafie in a state seat?
Apart from the sex scandal, there is also intense interest due to Shafie's Sabah connections.
It is an open secret that he is a favourite of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who wants him to take over as the state's chief minister and is believed to be mulling fileding him in a state seat so as to replace Musa Aman, the incumbent chief minister.
Musa Aman has come under attack for alleged massive corruption and there are growing fears that his unpopularity may cost Najib's BN coalition control over the state government.
To political observers, it is not coincidental that Musa has come under the spotlight and made to look bad during the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry into a citizenship-for-votes scam.
Musa has come under fire for not stopping the federal government led by ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad from giving citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegal workers, mostly Filipino and Indonesian, in exchange for their agreeing to vote for the BN during elections.
Tit for tat
The mysterious news leak that Philippines's No. 1 conman Manuel Karingal Amalilio was allegedly Musa's nephew too has shocked Sabahans, sparking another chain of speculation that this was the latest attack against Musa from his rivals in Umno such as Shafie.
"It looks like the infighting is really heating up and tit-for-tat will be the name of the game as they try to gain the upperhand. We have the Manuel issue and Musa running for cover. Now, Shafie is getting hit back with the Zahida scandal," a former Sabah Umno leader told Malaysia Chronicle.
Manuel is believed to be hiding out in Sabah and going around the state using the name Mohammad Sufian Said.
"This is not a petty issue as he is alleged to have cheated over 15,000 people of 12 billion pesos or about RM900 million! Musa must come clean on these allegations," Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim had said in a statement.
Anwar had made the comment after Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas accused Musa of blocking Manuel's repatriation back to the Philippine.
"This is most shocking and we demand an explanation," said Anwar in calling on the Malaysian leaders to come clean on the allegation.
Malaysia Chronicle
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