THE timing of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) mounting a raid at the home of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin yesterday (June 15) morning has sparked speculation with fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) deeming it a form of political persecution.
This is given that the raid took place barely a month or so from the six state elections which would test the popularity or rather strength of the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) alliance in the wake of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition claiming to have made inroads into PH-BN domains.
“IRB has raided the house of Opposition leader Hamzah Zainuddin. Previously MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) had raided Hamzah’s house. PM Anwar Ibrahim wants to be sure that Hamzah will not be the “poster boy” PM of PN,” tweeted fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK).
Netizen Jibjab97 (jibjab9715) echoed RPK’s tweet by deeming the action “borderline authoritarian” as “it looks like the Madani government is getting more desperate to discredit and weaken PN” but мистер Ричард (@wktong2012) called for “calm”.
“As we are all aware, Hamzah is just the Opposition head and puppet of (PAS president Tan Sri) Abdul Hadi Awang. He is unlikely to be a ‘poster boy’ in the upcoming state polls nor the GE (2026 general election),” opined the netizen.
Late yesterday evening, news broke out that the IRB had raided the home of Hamzah who is also the Bersatu secretary-general on Tuesday (June 13) with the party’s information chief Datuk Razali Idris confirming the action when contacted by the Malay Mail.
“Yes, there was a raid but it was two days ago,” he told the news portal.
Citing sources, The Star reported that the raid at the Larut MP’s Damansara house was believed to be over unreported income taxes.
“Hamzah was at home during the raid. Files and documents on accounts and asset ownership were seized,” the source told the mainstream news portal.
Elsewhere, sources close to Hamzah further expressed regret that the raid was a politically motivated act by the authorities as the former Home Minister had always recorded his taxes.
“The IRB did not specify in detail the reason for the raid on whether or not it was regarding taxes involving a company or some projects. Hamzah is still waiting for documents from LHDN,” added the source.
For the record, only Hamzah can shed more light into the matter as IRB is unable to comment on the raid at his home.
“Tax matters relating to specific taxpayers are protected under the tax act. The alternative would be to contact the subject being highlighted in the news. We appreciate your understanding on this,” an IRB spokesman said in a WhatsApp reply to a query by FocusM. – June 16, 2023
