Ibrahim Ali defends taking RM600k from Najib after 1MDB suit

 

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali has admitted to receiving money from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak but claimed he did not know the funds originated from 1MDB.

His confession came after former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd filed a civil suit against him to recover the RM600,000 he received.

In a statement today, Ibrahim (above) stressed that Najib had given him a “personal cheque” sometime after 2013.

“I admit I received a personal cheque from Najib that had his (Najib’s) name on the cheque. I was unaware that it was linked to SRC or 1MDB because neither SRC nor 1MDB’s name was on the cheque.

“I don’t remember when I received it, but it was definitely before the 1MDB issue was exposed after GE13.

“If it (the 1MDB issue) had been exposed then, for sure I would not want to accept it and Najib himself would not have used that account,” he said.

He promised to cooperate with any investigations but would let the court determine if he had to return the money.

“I am waiting for the suit and I am ready to answer in court. I will let the court decide if I should return the money or not because I have spent everything, as I did not know if the money was from an illegitimate source,” he added.

Personally approached Najib

Ibrahim was the Pasir Mas MP from 2008 to 2013. While he had won the seat under a PAS ticket, he later declared himself a pro-BN independent.

After losing his seat in GE13, the Perkasa president revealed today that he had personally approached Najib for money.

“After GE13, I met Najib to ask for help to solve my financial problems after I spent a lot during the past five years, including when contesting GE13 [...]

“He agreed to help me. To my mind, this was because I had been a pro-BN MP before this. I did not ask what funds he used to help me. Maybe they were Umno funds, BN funds or his personal funds,” he said.

Ibrahim defended his actions and said he had spent all RM600,000 on “people-centric programmes in Pasir Mas”.

“Why should I reject the help that he gave me? Of course, I did not question the source of the money given that Najib had been in the cabinet since his 20s. Of course, the amount was within his means.

“I don’t need to elaborate on how I spent all the money but for sure it was used up to pay for people’s programmes in Pasir Mas and not for my personal expenses,” he said.

Ibrahim set up Malay-rights, right-wing NGO Perkasa in 2008 after his GE12 win.

After GE13, which was held on May 5, 2013, Ibrahim made headlines for threatening to burn Malay-language Christian Bibles.

Perkasa had also held protests against allowing Christians to use the term “Allah”. 

They had protested allowing the ashes of late Malayan Communist Party secretary-general Chin Peng to be brought into Malaysia and pressured the government to not go ahead with recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).

It had called for a boycott against Starbucks over the US-based beverage chain’s support of LGBT rights.

In 2018, Ibrahim set up Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) - a political vehicle that had similar leanings as his NGO. - Mkini