Return 1MDB funds to show you've moved past Najib, Mat Hasan told

Acting Umno president Mohamad Hasan has been urged to show that he has moved past former president Najib Abdul Razak by returning the 1MDB funds given to his party that are being sought by the MACC.

"We have been listening to the internal reforms Umno wants to make," PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir said when met at his party's headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

"I think this is the golden opportunity for Mohamad to move beyond Najib and 1MDB." 

Only then, Akmal noted, the issues surrounding the troubled state investment firm will not be prolonged.

"As the acting president, Mohamad can set a good example, so he isn't confined by or follows in Najib's shadow.

"If he has some dignity, he should return the money," he said, adding that the Umno chief should prove that he and Najib are from different "gangs."

Eight Umno divisions are listed among the 41 respondents in a civil forfeiture suitbrought by the MACC under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

The RM212 million sought from Umno accounts for 78.5 percent of the RM270 million that the commission wants to seize.

Akmal also claimed that Mohamad had failed to explain the situation by saying that the MACC froze "clean party funds" in Umno's national account.

The Umno chief said on Friday that his party would fight the forfeiture suits, and disagreed with the money being returned to the government.

He also said that the funds from 1MDB have all been used up.

"What MACC froze are actually clean party funds which we received from well-wishers and donors during the last general election.

"This is clean money and not 1MDB funds," he was reported as saying by The Star. - Mkini