Umno man calls for RCI on RM600bil spent by Muhyiddin’s govt
(FMT) – Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil has called for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to probe the apparent expenditure of RM600 billion by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration.
He said this was necessary as the people deserve to know how Perikatan Nasional (PN) funded its election campaign for the general election (GE15).
Isham added that an RCI was necessary to investigate in detail how such a huge amount of money was spent since the expenditure was done during the emergency period and Parliament was not able to provide a check and balance having been suspended at the time.
“We saw that they (PN) spent a lot of money for GE15. Therefore, people want to know the source of all that money.
“Was the money from the taxpayers’ RM600 billion? This should not be happening,” Isham told FMT.
“There should not be any element of money politics in the elections. We also do not want (political) parties that won a lot of seats only because of money politics and bribery.”
He said that an RCI was better than having a task force look into the matter because it would be able to do a more comprehensive job involving many agencies.
Isham added that an RCI would also be more independent.
Amanah Youth vice-chief Ammar Atan supported the call for an RCI on the RM600 billion expenditure under the Muhyiddin administration and urged the government to form the commission immediately.
He said despite Muhyiddin’s aide having issued a statement in defence of the former prime minister, the statement was inadequate and was just “an empty denial”.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) had previously said during its election campaign that it would probe the spending of RM600 billion should it come to power.
On Nov 30, PH’s Hulu Langat MP Sany Hamzah lodged a police report calling for a probe into possible leakages in the expenditure of over RM600 billion under the PN-led government between March 2020 and August 2021. He later told reporters that an RCI should be established on the matter.
