RM90 million donation: report filed with MACC and investigation launched
According to what the bank officers told the MACC, there is no record of RM90 million having been transferred to PAS on or before 6th August 2016 or even as far back as June 2015 when DAP dissolved Pakatan Rakyat. And the fact it was DAP and not PAS who dissolved Pakatan Rakyat on 16th June 2015 makes this case even more interesting.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Today, Raggie Jessy, a.k.a. The Third Force, lodged a report at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Shah Alam, Selangor, asking them to investigate Clare Rewcastle Brown’s allegation that, according to Ambiga Sreenevasan, former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak donated RM90 million to PAS and that a number of PAS leaders had shared out the money.
In the meantime, the MACC announced that investigations have already been launched into allegations by Clare and Ambiga that PAS had received RM90 million from 1Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB).
MACC deputy chief commissioner, Azam Baki, said four people, including PAS members, had already been contacted by his officers for their statements to be recorded.
There is no record of RM90 million flowing into the party’s bank accounts either in 2015 or 2016
Yesterday, PAS issued an official statement saying that the party pledges to cooperate fully with the MACC and is prepared to submit its bank account statements for the MACC to audit.
This whole episode started when Sarawak Report wrote on 6th August 2016 that PAS received RM90 million in donations or bribes from Umno.
In the 6th August 2016 article, which can still be viewed on their website, Sarawak Report said:
Najib has worked to exploit the leaderless situation confronting the opposition ever since and BN/UMNO smugly talk of divisions faced by the party they deliberately decapitated. He has gone on to “woo” the PAS Islamic party away from the opposition coalition in the normal way he woos – RM90 million is widely reckoned to have flowed into the top echelons of PAS in recent months (BN veterans would tell them they came cheap).
Lim Kit Siang had announced on 16th June 2015 that Pakatan Harapan had been dissolved and no longer existed, more than a year before PAS was allegedly bribed to leave Pakatan Harapan
Actually, Pakatan Rakyat had already been unilaterally dissolved by DAP a year earlier on 16th June 2015, long before Najib had allegedly ‘bribed’ PAS RM90 million “to woo them away from the opposition coalition”. Hence the opposition coalition no longer existed more than a year before Najib was supposed to have paid PAS RM90 million for them to leave the coalition.
Clare appears to have overlooked one very important feature of this case, which is the timeline. Najib is alleged to have paid PAS RM90 million in 2016 to divorce Pakatan Rakyat that had already been closed down in 2015 and no longer existed.
When the civil suit involving Abdul Hadi Awang and Clare was still outstanding in the London court, the MACC could not touch this case. The MACC could only get involved once the case is settled (appeals included), which could take many years, or until the case is dropped.
With the out of court settlement the MACC can now take over
Now that Hadi and Clare have reached an out-of-court settlement, the MACC can jump onto the bandwagon and hammer away.
Clare is said to have been pressured by her ‘handlers’ to settle the case out of court to avoid Ambiga having to testify in court. Clare had earlier slipped up by naming Ambiga as her source and Hadi’s lawyers had planned to subpoena Ambiga to testify as to the veracity of this allegation. If Ambiga confirms she was Clare’s source then this allows Hadi to now sue her in a Malaysian court.
Furthermore, Najib is very central to the whole thing because he is supposed to be the person who paid that RM90 million. Hence, Najib was going to be the key witness in this hearing and will have to travel to the UK to testify in court. This has put Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Malaysian government in a dilemma so it would be better that this hearing did not go on.
Najib is central to this whole issue and would need to be the key witness in the London hearing since the money was supposed to have come from him
In fact, the abortion of this case has worked out well for PAS because now the MACC has taken over. And within just a day or two the MACC announced the investigation is on and they have even lined up who to call in for interrogation. This means the ball is now at the MACC’s foot and they will need to very soon announce the result of the investigation and/or arrest and charge all those involved in the matter, assuming a crime has been committed.
According to what the bank officers told the MACC, there is no record of RM90 million having been transferred to PAS on or before 6th August 2016 or even as far back as June 2015 when DAP dissolved Pakatan Rakyat. And the fact it was DAP and not PAS who dissolved Pakatan Rakyat on 16th June 2015 makes this case even more interesting.
