THE MALAYSIAN Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will call all those named in a “secret” ledger of alleged recipients of “donations” by a firm that once handled the country’s foreign visa system.
According to a recent parliamentary reply, MACC has received several complaints related to individuals named in visa processing company Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd’s (UKSB) ledger, as revealed in court last month.
“(MACC’s) investigations will determine if the gifting or receiving of those monies are corrupt,” said Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar in a brief reply on Thursday (July 21).
The de facto law minister was replying to Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong, who wanted to know why several politicians linked to the issue had purportedly not been probed for graft.
Khoo, a vice-chairman of Melaka DAP, said this was puzzling since MACC had access to the evidence of the UKSB case for some time now.
Khoo named Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Khairy Jamaluddin, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
All those he named had served at some point or another in previous Barisan Nasional-led Cabinets.
Wan Junaidi, meanwhile, did not respond to Khoo’s supplementary question about the latest status of the investigations into the group of politicians.
Court testimony
On June 17, a former administrative manager of UKSB told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Muhyiddin and Shafie had received monies from the company.
The ex-manager, David Tan, claimed Muhyiddin got RM1.3 mil between June and August 2018 while serving as home minister under the Pakatan Harapan administration.
Tan also implicated Khairy, Anifah, Reezal and Hishamuddin, but did not specify how much they each purportedly received.
Tan is a witness in the trial against UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Zahid, a former home minister, is facing 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 mil (RM42 mil) from UKSB for Government contracts.
Muhyiddin, along with other UMNO politicians like Anifah and Khairy, have since denied the allegations.
Earlier today, Tan added Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s name to the list, testifying that the former prime minister received RM2.6 mil from USKB as political donations.
According to news reports, the money was passed to Mahathir’s nephew, Rahmat Abu Bakar, as a political fund for Mahathir and his then-party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. – July 25, 2022
