KUALA LUMPUR – Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan today admitted that he did not know how to explain the issues surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), as he too did not have a clear understanding of what transpired.
During a Sinar Harian forum today, Mohamad was asked by moderator Tan Sri Johan Jaafar to state one reason why people loathed Umno.
A smiling Mohamad admitted that 1MDB was the main issue, among others.
“I don’t mind telling you. The 1MDB factor was one of the reasons that made people mad.
“I myself don’t know what 1MDB is. So what to do then?” Mohamad replied.
“I, being on the state level, I didn’t know. Even at the federal level, many ministers too didn’t know, because the scheme was done as such. Not many know, so how do we then explain it?
“Although many explanations have been given to us, we still don’t know how to explain it to people,” Mohamad said when Johan asked why the issues surrounding 1MDB were left to fester, leading to Umno’s downfall.
Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was the chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board when Barisan Nasional (BN) was in power.
The state investment firm has since been marred by several accusations of fund misappropriation, with Najib facing several charges in relation to the fund.
Najib will go on trial on February 12 on charges linked to 1MDB.
Last month, Bernama reported that the High Court here was told that the prosecution had handed over 421 documents against Najib, involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB’s funds, to the defence.
The Pakatan Harapan administration is seeking to recoup some of the stolen funds from 1MDB, much of which had been used to buy properties, expensive artworks or stashed in accounts all over the world.
In September last year, a Singapore court ordered the return to Malaysia of about S$15.3 million (RM45.9 million), just a small portion of the total seized in the republic.
– Malay Mail
Tok Mat: As far as I know, Umno never paid RM90m to PAS
KUALA LUMPUR — Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan today said that his party never gave RM90 million to PAS as alleged by Sarawak Report.
In a Sinar Harian forum today, Mohamad said that he himself has always been against money politics, and has even spoken at length about it in his 2019 new year speech.
“As long as money politics is rooted, any organisation will be damned,” he said, pointing out how corruption can wipe out even a great empire.
“I have never agreed to money politics, but with regards to PAS, I don’t know. As far as I know, Umno didn’t give.
“If anyone else gave, I don’t know,” Mohamad added.
Mohamad said he has also instructed one of the party’s vice president to relook Umno’s party constitution and among others, penalise money politics.
“So if we find that any of our members are still adamant, then they have to face stern actions by the party,” he warned.
PAS yesterday said that it is ready to offer full cooperation to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which said an investigation into the matter has started.
Party vice-president Idris Ahmad reportedly said the party will even open its doors “25 hours a day” to facilitate the probe.
His comments came after MACC confirmed that an investigation has been initiated to look into a claim that Umno paid RM90 million to PAS leaders to secure their support for the party.
The Commission had in a statement, said that it will start investigating the claim, now that it has received a report from the police regarding the allegation.
A MACC source reportedly told Bernama that the probe was being conducted in accordance with the MACC Act 2009 and the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
On Saturday, news broke that Abdul Hadi had settled his defamation suit against Sarawak Reporteditor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who made the allegation, out of court. The details of their settlement, however, were not made public.
– Malay Mail
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