Nazri tells Pakatan to ask HK about Sabah Umno’s RM40m
Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
The Barisan Nasional (BN) government continued today to defend Sabah Umno’s RM40 million political donation from an unknown source, with an Umno minister telling opposition lawmakers to refer to Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency if they opposed the contribution.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz (picture), in deflecting criticisms against Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman in the Dewan Rakyat, told the House that it is not an offence for a political party to receive donations from any individual.
“Political donations are not any offence. If we wanted to say it is an offence, we would have enacted laws against it,” he said to uproar from the opposition bench.
“If people want to contribute, let them contribute. What is the problem there?
“In any case, whether you agree or not… you should ask Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)… they were the ones that investigated and closed this case,” added the Padang Rengas MP.
Parliament was told earlier this month that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had cleared Musa of graft and money-laundering allegations after finding that the over S$16 million (RM40 million) that timber trader Michael Chia was caught trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong was not meant for the chief minister but for Sabah Umno.
In a parliamentary reply, Nazri had said that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had shelved the matter after finding no element of corruption in the case, which was first raised by whistleblower site Sarawak Report earlier this year.
In April this year, Sarawak Report had revealed documents allegedly from Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency, the ICAC, showing that a Sabah lawyer was holding some US$30 million (RM93 million) in a Swiss bank account for Musa.
