Hamzah’s aide denies RM1bil palace bribe claim
Hamzah Zainudin’s aide lodges a police report over the claim made in a blog to clear the opposition leader’s name.
(FMT) – An aide to Hamzah Zainudin has denied an allegation that the opposition leader offered RM1 billion to Istana Negara to help topple the unity government.
Ikhwan Fadhli, Hamzah’s private secretary, said the claim made in a blog post was slanderous and aimed to tarnish the Perikatan Nasional (PN) secretary-general’s name.
Ikhwan also expressed disappointment over the government’s inaction in preventing the post involving the palace from spreading.
“The article was uploaded on Jan 8, and as of today, it’s still on X and the blog.
“What is the response of the government or government supporters? Has a police report been filed to investigate the person who published the article? No, no action has been taken by them,” he told reporters after lodging a report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters.
The blog post alleged that Hamzah had set aside some RM1 billion in funds for the purpose of toppling the unity government.
It claimed funds were also set aside to bribe government MPs into retracting their support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
On Monday, Anwar’s political secretary Azman Abidin called for an investigation into the allegation, saying the development, if true, did not augur well for Malaysia’s economic recovery.
Previously, speculation arose about the so-called “Dubai Move”, a reference to alleged discussions in the United Arab Emirates between opposition leaders and certain government representatives to topple the Anwar administration.
The alleged meeting, which Anwar and other government leaders have played down, supposedly aimed to divide tasks among “agents” to identify MPs who would defect to the opposition.
Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth’s assistant secretary Faiz Rahmad said the wing’s members would lodge police reports nationwide over the claim against Hamzah.
Faiz said this was to defend the integrity of the palace and PN’s MPs.
