Umno man questions timing of suit against Musa, claims smear campaign

Umno Supreme Council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan says the decision to publicise the Sabah Foundation’s RM$872 million suit against Musa Aman ‘is to gain political mileage’. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan today questioned the timing of the suit by the Sabah Foundation against former chief minister Musa Aman, saying it reeked of political vengeance.

Rahman said the timing of the suit, which he described as part of a smear campaign, was “highly suspicious”.

“Why now and not six months or a year ago?

“I dare say this sudden lawsuit mounted by Yayasan Sabah under Warisan’s watch is reminiscent of the attempt to reimpose old corruption charges for which Musa was already cleared of just three days before his appeal on the rightful Sabah chief minister case in 2018,” the Tuaran Umno division chief said in a statement.

On Friday, the state-owned foundation’s director, Jamalul Kiram Mohd Zakaria, filed a suit against Musa in a bid to recover RM872 million that allegedly went missing during his tenure as the chairman of the board of trustees.

Jamalul said the board believed the funds had gone missing due to timber activities of a dubious nature.

Musa denied the allegations and, in a counter-suit, demanded RM1 billion in defamation damages as well as a formal apology over the board’s decision to make public its multi-million ringgit suit against him.

Rahman said the decision by the trustees to go public with the suit was an attempt at “shock and awe” to “generate sensation and gain political mileage”.

He said it coincided with talks of Warisan elected representatives jumping ship and wondered if the ruling coalition was resorting to such “dirty legal tactics” out of fear.

Sabahans, he said, realised that the recent claims against Musa were similar to the corruption and money laundering charges that were recently dropped by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“It looks like the Warisan-led government is dissatisfied with the decision and is hell-bent on getting Musa,” he said.

‘Warisan MP’s statement proves witch-hunt against Musa’

Rahman also said a statement by Warisan’s Sepanggar MP Azis Jamman proved the state government’s intention.

Azis had said he was perplexed that Attorney-General Idrus Harun had deduced that Musa was innocent whereas his predecessor Tommy Thomas thought there was a case.

He lamented that things had changed since Perikatan Nasional took over the government and warned that if the government changed again, the AG might be replaced and the opinion might change as well.

Rahman said Azis’ statement “proves that the witch-hunt against Musa started when Warisan came into power supported by the Pakatan Harapan government”.

He asked why it was acceptable for Thomas to revive Musa’s case despite him being cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, but “questionable for the present AG to drop the case”.

He said there should not be any double standards.

“It goes to show that the Warisan-led government is in constant turmoil, focusing more on operation ‘Get Musa’ than running the state.” - FMT