PM refuses to divulge identity of RM40mil donor

Aidila Razak 11:14PM Oct 12, 2012

Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Abdul Razak has refused to disclose the identity of the alleged donor who gave RM40 million to Sabah Umno.

Speaking after chairing the BN supreme council meeting, Najib (left in photo) also declined to specify what the money was for.
He curtly said that it was “for political donation”.

Pressed on whether it was for election funding, he repeated: “It was for political donation.”

“Every political party has the right to receive political donations as long as it is done in a proper way...

“We are not at liberty to disclose (the donor’s identity) because the opposition also receives donations and they don’t disclose (where it's come from),” he said.
He said that the amount of the donation is irrelevant “as long as it is done in a proper way”.

Asked if the huge amount would cause public doubt, he said: “You have to ask the opposition how much they collected.”

Najib was commenting on the written reply to Parliament which disclosed the RM40 million in the Hong Kong corruption investigation involving timber tycoon Michael Chia.

In his reply, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said that the funds were for Sabah Umno and not Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

'Opposition confusing public with shadow cabinet'

He also lambasted the opposition for their “conflicting” responses when it came to the formation of a shadow cabinet.

“Some claim that this is their shadow cabinet, and uploaded it on a blog, then others deny it, and others say it is not needed and that the cabinet will be formed only after winning the election,” he said.

He said this is a “game to confuse people” to hide that their inability to form a shadow cabinet.

Najib said a shadow cabinet is essential in a Westminster democracy to show that the opposition has a credible team should they take over.

He added that even if the list is not the actual shadow cabinet, it is disputable as it is not representative in terms of “districts” and has issues of “nepotism”.

“They always charge us of nepotism, but when it comes to them, it’s defended,” he said.

He was asked to comment on the fact that the alleged shadow cabinet did not include a Sabahan leader.

The question elicited a chuckle from the PM who appeared to be in a happy mood.

The list was front-paged by Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia, which cited pro-establishment blog papagomo.com.