Ummi targets Najib with oath challenge
Controversial pro-Mahathir businesswoman challenges PM to prove innocence on RM2.6bn donation.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Controversial businesswoman Ummi Hafilda Ali, who was a main witness against Anwar Ibrahim, is back in the limelight, this time wanting prime minister Najib Razak to take a religious oath to prove his innocence about a RM2.6 billion donation deposited in his private bank account.
Ummi, who founded and heads a new organisation called Kuasa Suara Rakyat, challenged Najib to take the sumpah laknat at a prayer session to be held at Putrajaya mosque. She said her organisation comprised several other NGOs with a total membership of more than 30,000 people.
She was confident that Najib would be brave enough to take the oath at the solat hajat event, she told reporters at a press conference today, adding that she expected about 100,000 to attend the event.
“He was very brave to take on the sumpat laknat in denying his involvement with (murdered Mongolian translator) Altantuya Shaariibuu and so we are confident that he will be brave enough to take on the oath at Putrajaya Mosque after the Friday prayer,” she said, adding that it would be far better if Najib could take the oath during their scheduled Solat Hajat.
“We are asking the prime minister to take on sumpah laknat on the RM2.6 billion saying that it is true that the donation really came from an Arab millionaire and that every cent of the money was spent for the interest of the people and the country.”
She said the group was urging Najib to take the oath because the public was weary with Najib’s conflicting statements about the donation.
The money first came to light when the Wall Street Journal reported on a series of financial transactions involving funds said to be linked to government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The trail ended in a deposit of US$900 million (RM2.6 billion) in Najib’s private bank account in 2013, shortly before the general election that year.
Najib and the government has since said the money was a donation, from a Middle Eastern family.
Ummi said her group would also invite former premier Mahathir Mohamad to attend the solat hajat.
Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of a yearlong campaign to force Najib out of office because of 1MDB’s financial affairs, as well as the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder in 2006.
Ummi, who is a younger sister of Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali, has a long association with Dr Mahathir, dating back to his sacking of Anwar Ibrahim in 1997 and Anwar’s subsequent trial on a sodomy charge, when Ummi and Anwar’s driver were witnesses against him.
Last month, she returned to the limelight when she announced her resignation from Umno after deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin was dismissed from the Cabinet as deputy prime minister for raising questions about the RM2.6 billion donation.
“Is it fair for the public to be made fool of, belittled and ridiculed with empty, fictional stories that came out every night on TV3 with stupid statements that has angered the rakyat? This is why we form this NGO, so that the people’s voice can be heard and this NGO is open to all races because we are not racist.”
