UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would not speculate today whether a new party would be reconstituted if 73-year-old Malay rights party had to be disbanded should it lose a civil forfeiture suit brought by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with 1MDB.
Zahid deflected to his deputy Mohamad Hasan, the acting president while Zahid goes on a political furlough.
The Bagan Datok MP is battling 45 counts of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering involving RM114 million in cases brought by MACC.
“Ask the person who is performing the duties of the president,” he told reporters after opening the Masjid Tanah Umno delegates conference today.
Yesterday, Johor liaison committee chairman Hasni Mohammad said he was not ruling out the possibility of Umno forming a new party or joining existing parties if it was forced to dissolve.
Speculation on the party’s future grew after the anti-graft agency on Wednesday announced it had begun legal action to seek the forfeiture and recovery of RM270 million embezzled from the 1MDB investment fund.
Several Umno branches were among the 41 respondents named in the forfeiture application under Section 56 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2001.
The new MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said the money given to branches had come from 1MDB funds transferred to former prime minister and Umno president Najib Razak’s Ambank account.
Umno branches in Selangor, Pahang, Kedah, Johor, Sabah and Kelantan were among those that had received money from that account.
Hasni described the forfeiture proceeding as an abuse of power.
“If the government dissolves Umno, what is dissolved is only the party not the spirit of members.
“We will make sure that more than 3 million Umno members will not be partyless.”
He said they could form a new party or join existing parties, except those of the ruling coalition.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/
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