Nothing fishy about bringing Umno MPs into PPBM, says Dr M
(FMT) – Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today rubbished accusations of corruption in his alleged message to senior Umno leaders to jump ship and join his party PPBM.
Speaking to reporters after opening an anti-corruption summit here, he said there were no elements of bribery at play.
“If you find cases of corruption, you are welcome to report them so we can take action, but so far we have not asked for money,” he said.
“We have stipulated that the conditions for joining PPBM are for them to leave Umno, become independents for a period of time, and then apply to become a member of our party.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Mahathir, who is Langkawi MP, added.
He pointed out how Jeli MP Mustapa Mohamed, who joined PPBM last Friday, had resigned from Umno and served as an independent before being taken on as a PPBM member.
When asked if there were any under-the-table deals made with Umno MPs to avoid possible investigation into allegations of corruption, Mahathir said no deals would be made “with criminals”.
On Saturday, PPBM Supreme Council member A Kadir Jasin said some 40 MPs might leave Umno soon for PPBM, following in the footsteps of Mustapa who joined the Pakatan Harapan (PH) component party the day before.
He claimed the MPs had met top PPBM leaders including Mahathir and president Muhyiddin Yassin.
“They indicated that they are open about quitting Umno and joining PPBM, but the problem is they have to figure out what will happen next as some of them have issues or are exposed to investigations,” he said.
Muhyiddin confirmed that several Umno MPs had met with him but refused to say how many.
Several Umno leaders dismissed this as speculation while the party’s information chief Shamsul Anuar Nasarah accused PPBM of spreading rumours of more MPs quitting Umno to prevent Anwar Ibrahim from succeeding Mahathir as prime minister.
Perak DAP meanwhile urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the claim that the MPs were leaving Umno to avoid possible corruption charges.
Under a deal by the four PH parties – PKR, DAP, Amanah and PPBM – Mahathir will step down as prime minister after two years in power and make way for Anwar, the PKR president-elect and newly minted Port Dickson MP.
Earlier today, Mahathir also rubbished the claim by former prime minister Najib Razak that the RM2.6 billion donation from the Saudi royalty was a personal donation.
“He can say what he likes and you believe what you believe,” he said.
He also questioned whether a court of law would show that the money was in fact a donation, and asked for evidence to disprove the Saudis’ claim that they had not given the money.
“They came out to say they didn’t give the money,” he said, referring to Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah’s comments on Saturday that his Saudi counterpart, Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir, had denied such a suggestion.
