RPK: Did Mahathir return Umno’s RM100bn assets?

Blogger says 'hundreds of opposition leaders' know Umno's wealth held in personal names of trustees, proxies and nominees

PETALING JAYA: Former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been challenged to answer for RM100-RM200 billion in assets that belong to Umno and whether those assets had been returned to the party.

Political blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin accused Mahathir today of having turned Umno into a corporate enterprise instead of a political party after the party was deregistered and reformed as a result of the Mahathir-Razaleigh power struggle in the late 1980s.

Raja Petra made the accusations in a slashing attack on Mahathir, who has waged a campaign to oust Umno president and prime minister Najib Razak, after having previously been responsible for the downfall of Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir’s year-long campaign has put the focus on the financial affairs of the government’s investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd, and with particular emphasis on a deposit of US$600 million in Najib’s personal bank accounts which the government has said was a political donation from Saudi Arabia for the 2013 general election.

In a slashing attack on Dr Mahathir, the controversial blogger accused the former premier of “lying through his teeth” in his open letter to Umno members last week, seeking their support to oust Najib.

He said Mahathir had stated many half-truths and lies to prey on the ignorance of younger people about his (Mahathir’s) history and that of Umno.

He said Umno had faced financial difficulties when the party was deregistered by a court order after Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah came close to defeating Mahathir in the 1987 party elections.

“Umno’s assets were all frozen and the banks were suing many Umno branches and divisions. When the 1990 general election came, Umno had no money and it had to go begging for donations from rich towkays and businessmen,” Raja Petra wrote.

“Of course, the donations were not free” he said and the party granted many concessions and business contracts through privatisation of government assets, issuing permits and other means.

“And that was when Umno was turned from a political party into a corporate entity,” Raja Petra wrote. Mahathir decided at the time that Umno needed billions (or tens of billions) as a war chest or face tough going.

It was also decided that Umno’s wealth would not be held in the name of the party, but instead in the names of trustees, nominees and proxies. The Umno president, deputy president, treasurer and others would hold Umno’s cash, assets and investment in their personal names, Raja Petra said.

He pointed out that it was Mahathir’s own doing that led to the situation of Najib being found to be holding RM2.6 billion cash.

“In fact, Mahathir as trustee is still holding an estimated RM100-200 billion of Umno’s wealth,” Raja Petra said.

He challenged Mahathir to return Umno’s RM100-200 billion wealth before challenging Najib about the RM2.6 billion held in his personal bank accounts.

Raja Petra said “hundreds of opposition leaders all know this”, and named Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as being among them.

He pointed out that Kit Siang had taken an injunction against United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) in 1988 when the company, one of Umno’s many proxies or nominees, was awarded the contract for the North-South Expressway.

“They all know why the RM2.6 billion was banked into Najib’s personal bank accounts and not Umno’s bank account. It is the system that Mahathir introduced in 1988,” Raja Petra said. “They are only pretending they do not know so that they can make an issue of the RM2.6 billion. And Malaysians are swallowing this lie — hook, line and sinker.”

He challenged Mahathir to explain what had happened to Umno’s RM100-200 billion in assets and why it was being held in his name and not that of the party.

Raja Petra also challenged the former party leader to show evidence that he had returned the wealth to the party.