PAS has thanked former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli for vindicating Perikatan Nasional from the allegation that the opposition coalition's funds were sourced from gambling proceeds.
This followed Rafizi’s latest podcast session on Friday, where he said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had embarrassed Pakatan Harapan by making such accusations without evidence.
PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said the admission from Anwar’s former right-hand man has finally put PN and its component parties in the clear.
“Thanks to Rafizi, who finally confirmed that the accusation against PN was nothing more than slander by the prime minister.
“When the accusation was first made after the 15th general election, Harapan supporters had repeated it as much as they could.
“Now, how are you going to cover your face from this embarrassment?” he said in a statement on Facebook.
On Dec 5, 2022, Anwar, who had just been sworn in as the country’s 10th prime minister days earlier, held a press conference in Putrajaya where he implied that PN’s election funds partly came from gaming companies involved in special draws.
Then PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin denied the allegation and “swore to God” that they would never “accept even a sen of donations from any gaming company just because we want money”.
MACC later launched a detailed investigation into the matter but was unable to verify such claims, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.
Dubious track record
On Friday, Rafizi claimed the MACC investigation against him over alleged misconduct was “only to create a perception” and believed it would not result in court charges.
The former economy minister likened his situation to the claim that PN had partly sourced its GE15 campaign funds from gambling proceeds.
“Earlier, we were embarrassed (when) Anwar gave a speech saying there was evidence that PN received gambling money.
“I don’t know who told him (such information), he never asked us either, we thought there was evidence. Then a week became a month, which became a year - it just went quiet.
“Accusing someone of taking gambling money is actually a big matter. So, there have been many accusations made (in the past) with no evidence,” he said on his podcast.
This was not the only time Anwar had made accusations against PN or its leaders without evidence.
On Aug 5 last year, Anwar claimed in Parliament that Muhyiddin had defended giving fuel subsidies to foreigners, saying that they, too, contribute to the country.
He even chided an opposition MP for not being aware of the PN chief’s statement.
Muhyiddin denied this, and Anwar subsequently ordered the MCMC to launch a probe.
A statement by the MCMC indicated that it was investigating a dubious TikTok video, which claimed Muhyiddin had made the remarks as Anwar alleged.
Checks by Malaysiakini found that the way the information was presented in the video is similar to how fake headlines are shared on social media.
Anwar acknowledged in Parliament that one source of information he cited was false, but claimed that there were two other sources he wanted MCMC to verify.
He said he would only apologise if MCMC found there was no legitimate source.
To date, there has been no update on the outcome of the MCMC investigation. - Mkini
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