MACC will clear me, Bersatu over Covid-19 funds, says Muhyiddin

 

Muhyiddin Yassin has rubbished claims that he received kickbacks from projects that were awarded when he was leading the government.

PETALING JAYA: Muhyiddin Yassin is confident that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe into the alleged misappropriation of RM92.5 billion by his government will find that the various allegations hurled at him and Bersatu are without merit.

“I am confident that MACC’s investigation will reveal that the allegation that there is RM4.5 billion in Bersatu’s account, or mine, is false,” said the former prime minister.

“I have never taken a single sen that was not mine,” added the Bersatu president.

“This is a monstrous lie based on fabricated stories upon fabricated stories. The misappropriation of RM92.5 billion is a fabrication.”

Muhyiddin was responding to claims that Bersatu was linked to the MACC’s arrest of a CEO of a private company last week after he allegedly served as a middleman in the distribution of government projects.

A source close to the matter said the arrest was tied in with MACC’s investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Covid-19 stimulus packages worth RM92.5 billion by the former Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government.

The source said several contractors who were questioned admitted to agreeing to pay a commission of between 3% and 5% which was to be deposited into the account of a political party and supposedly meant as political funding.

In response, Muhyiddin dismissed claims that he instructed certain individuals to collect the commission, which was to be deposited into Bersatu’s account.

He also said that the fiscal spending under the economic stimulus packages was not in the form of projects that could be misappropriated as most of it was direct cash transfers to the public.

“The 3%-5% commission of this fiscal expenditure is fictitious,” he said.

“How can I collect commissions from this? Will the 10.6 million people who received direct cash handouts give me a commission? Will the 2.96 million workers who received wage subsidies pay me a commission? Of course not.”

He added that it was not true that Bersatu had a hefty budget to spend in the 15th general election (GE15) as a result of such political donations.

Muhyiddin insisted that Bersatu was funded through the contributions of its supporters.

He stressed that Bersatu’s accounts were transparent and all expenditure recorded, audited and presented in its annual general meeting in accordance with the requirement of the party’s constitution and the Societies Act 1966.

Muhyiddin said contributions to the party’s election fund were also included in the party’s account and noted that although Malaysia still did not have a political funding law, he was confident that every donation Bersatu had received had not violated any existing laws or regulations.

He did not rule out the possibility that the allegations against Bersatu were “designed” by the government so that legal action would be taken against the party and weaken it ahead of the six state elections set for this year. - FMT