During the trial of Najib Razak’s suit against the government over some RM114 million in cash that was part of the total assets seized from his home by police in 2018 on 10 Feb 2021, the prosecutor, DPP Muhammad Saifuddin (DPP) told the High Court that during the course of their investigations, the police discovered the existence of a secret unaudited bank account held by Umno.
The bank account, as revealed in the High Court, was opened in Southern Bank – later to be renamed CIMB Bank in 2006 – at Wisma Genting in 1988 to receive political donations and the then party leaders, including the president, deputy president and treasurer, knew about it.
The DPP added that subsequent Umno presidents, deputy presidents and treasurers would also have known about this secret bank account, as it was managed by them. He further added that the bank account was not audited by external auditors and the unaudited political donations in cash also contravened Section 14(1)(d) and (d)(b) of the Societies Act 1966, which can result in the de-registration of Umno by the Registrar of Societies.
According to a 2014’s academic paper published by Dr. Wolfgang Sachsenroeder, an associate fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Umno allegedly spent RM1.5 billion in the 2004 general election.
According to the former chairman of the Bar Council, Ambiga Sreenevasan, donations are included within the definition of gratification in Section 50 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC) 2009. The section stated that any form of gratification was presumed corruptly received unless proven otherwise.
On 12 March 2023, in his presidential speech at his party’s annual general meeting, the 8th PM said this is the first time in the last century that a political party president was charged for the donations their party received.
He claimed that all donations to his party go through the treasurer-general. The accounts are audited by certified auditors and presented in the annual general meeting to be examined by the delegates. He also said many reports had been made by their members for MACC to investigate the sources of funds of these UMNO and PKR who govern the state of Perlis, Perak, Pahang, Melaka and Johor.
Now that he is calling for MACC to investigate UMNO and PKR also, shouldn’t the 8th PM be asking MACC to investigate UMNO for the period when he was the Deputy President of the party from 2008 to July 2015?
As the Deputy President then, he knows and should have access to the details of UMNO's secret bank account at Southern Bank in Wisma Genting, a fact that was revealed by the DPP in the trial of Najib's suit against the government. The 8th PM surely would have known all the donors who donated to UMNO during the entire period when he was the Deputy President of the party.
In an interview with a news portal and a news media on 9 Sept 2018, when asked about the future of Umno, Muhyiddin, then the President of Bersatu and was part of the ruling government led by the Pakatan Harapan coalition, said because of the way Umno 'tapau' in the May 9 2018 polls, it is time for the Malay community to start treating the party as non-existent as UMNO is “done.”
The rakyat is still waiting for the 8th PM’s prediction in 2018 to come true. Again recently, the 8th PM predicted the demise of UMNO soon.
As such, he will be doing a great service to the nation if he were to disclose publicly all the donors that donated to UMNO during the period when he was the duly elected Deputy President of UMNO. Instead at present, the role is reversed where his former party is now part of the ruling coalition while the 8th PM is alleging that his former party is trying to destroy his present party.
What a complete reversal of fortune.
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