MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Azam Baki told The Malaysian Insight that investigations are under the MACC Act as well as the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.
From an initial list of nine people MACC had wanted to question, the graft busters have to date, questioned a total of 12 current and former PAS leaders.
MACC is also looking at the money flow between the personal bank accounts of leaders and individual entities, after finding no concrete evidence of transactions between the official party accounts of Umno and PAS.
Another MACC source said they are also looking at the bank accounts of the party’s cronies and donors.
In addition to bank accounts, investigators are also looking for signs of corruption based on the amassing of wealth and assets beyond normal means of these leaders and ex-leaders, such as their ownership of bungalows, luxury cars and motorcycles.
From the questioning so far, 18 luxury cars and motorcycles have been traced to eight current PAS leaders and one former leader.
The vehicles include a BMW 525, Mini Clubman, Toyota Vellfire, Toyota Camry, Toyota Fortuner, Range Rover, Audi 6, Toyota Altis, Porsche Cayman, Audi Q7, Volkswagen Passat and several high performance motorcycles.
Some of the vehicles were registered under the names of the leaders and others under the names of their second and third wives.
Assets seized so far include three vehicles; a Toyota Vellfire, a Range Rover and a Mini Cooper, as well as a shophouse worth RM2 million.
Investigators believe all these were bought with the RM90 million PAS received from Umno and uncovering the money trail will help reveal more details about the origins of the funds, how the money was distributed and to whom, the intermediaries that were used, and what it was spent on.
While news of the RM90 million from Umno first surfaced in a 2016 article by whistleblower website Sarawak Report, the probe into PAS leaders began recently after party president Abdul Hadi Awang and the website’s editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, agreed on an out-of-court settlement for a defamation suit filed by Hadi over the article.
The following are PAS figures MACC has questioned to date:
* Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz:
The PAS central committee member was called up on February 8 for questioning. He was the voice in an audio recording that went viral a year ago before the 14th general election in which he said PAS had received RM2 million from Umno with the knowledge of a senior PAS leader. He was heard saying that the money had been used in the Sarawak state election in 2016 to counter DAP’s campaign in the polls.
Nik Abduh is also heard mentioning the following names in connection with the funds: Hadi, deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, party information chief Nasrudin Hassan and Hadi’s son in law, Zaharuddin Muhammad.
* Nasharudin Mat Isa:
The former deputy president was also called in for questioning on February 8. He is one of the key figures in the probe, since MACC has discovered that of the five accounts it has frozen, one is Nasharudin’s personal bank account while the other four belong to foundations linked to him.
* Husam Musa:
Formerly a PAS vice-president and now an Amanah vice-president, Husam was questioned by MACC on February 19 in Kelantan. He was also one of the earliest from PAS to reveal that the Islamist party had taken money from Umno.
* Takiyuddin Hassan:
The PAS secretary-general was questioned by MACC on February 29 about cars and motorcycles he owned, as well as an exclusive vehicle registration plate.
* Hashim Jasin:
The PAS spiritual leader was questioned on March 1 and had his statement recorded over the RM90 million from Umno. He was also questioned about a Porsche Cayman worth RM100,000 registered to his name. But his explanation was that the car was bought by his son several years ago using an import permit (AP) reserved for him when he was Arau MP.
* Mohamed Nasir Che Daud:
The PAS central committee member and former Kuala Krai assemblyman was questioned on March 1 in Kelantan.
* Rameli Musa:
The Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd chairman got drawn into the controversy for being the mediator in Hadi’s out of court settlement with Rewcastle-Brown. The RM1.4 million paid to the Sarawak Report editor to settle her legal fees came from Rameli’s account. Rewcastle-Brown even described him as a gracious and gentlemanly intermediary who merely wanted to help the party he supported. Rameli was questioned by the MACC on March 5.
* Zaidy Abdul Talib:
The former Selangor exco and current Selayang PAS commissioner was questioned on March 5.
* Mohd Khoirol Anuar Mat Zuki:
The MACC questioned this party member who is an employee at the PAS headquarters, on March 5.
* Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi:
The son of Hadi and PAS Youth chief was questioned on March 6, in particular, about his ownership of a BMW motorcycle. Khalil was unable to provide any documents on the motorcycle and claimed it belonged to PAS Youth secretary Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden.
* Nasrudin Hassan:
The party information chief was questioned in Pahang on March 8
* Mokhtar Senik:
The Pahang PAS Dewan Ulama chief was also questioned in Pahang on March 8.
Early last month, lawyer and human rights activist Ambiga Sreenevasan had also given a statement to the MACC about the RM90 million from Umno to PAS. The former Bar Council president had previously been cited by Rewcastle-Brown as a source of information about the funds to PAS.
To date, MACC has not found any proof of official transactions between the official accounts of the parties and is instead focused on tracking the money flow from one account to another belonging to individuals and other entities, a source said. – THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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