LDP threat to include Liew
Published on: Tuesday, June 25, 2019
KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Datuk Chin Su Phin said de facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong, who was a former party president, should answer for the funds he received from Barisan Nasional and how it was spent during the 13th General Election rather than point fingers at the current leadership.
Chin said in a statement that Liew should be the one to explain whether he received cash or cheques from ex-PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak during his tenure as party president as well as the amount and that failure to do so may lead LDP to name him in the forfeiture suit.
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“Liew will be compelled to tell the truth when he appears in court,” he said. In response to Liew’s version of the party leadership crisis, Chin claimed Liew had immense power when he was party president and did not have to report to the Supreme Council when using party funds.
Chin asserted that the money in the party’s bank accounts was clean and had no link to the 1MDB scandal when Datuk Seri Panglima Teo Chee Kang took over from 2014 to 2018 following an internal leadership crisis.
“Although the 1MDB scandal surfaced in 2014, the MACC is investigating the funds linked to Najib’s personal account and 1MDB between 2012 and 2013.
“As the party president then, Liew cannot evade responsibility and should explain to the public.” Chin claimed that Liew personally approached Najib and received funds during GE13.
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“Back in 2013, Liew told the Supreme Council that received funds from Najib, but did not inform us how the money was used. We do not know if the money was connected to 1MDB or how it was spent. Only Liew knows about it.”
Besides, Chin said himself, as deputy president during Liew’s helm of the party, was not authorised to sign any cheques.
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“Any cheques issued by the party must be signed by the president and either the treasurer general or secretary general. So Liew should know better where the purported 1MDB funds had gone to after receiving it from Najib.”
Liew had earlier said that LDP should explain whether Najib gave the party funds after he (Liew) was “kicked out” from the party due to the leadership crisis.
Liew was LDP President from 2006 to 2013 and is now a permanent chairman of Parti Warisan Sabah. Liew had also demanded LDP to reveal how much money was left in the party’s bank account when he left.
When the party conflict broke out in 2013, Chin claimed Liew’s camp allegedly had the intention to withdraw funds from the party’s bank accounts and the only way to stop that was to issue a letter to the banks to freeze all the accounts till the leadership crisis was resolved.
“Since the leadership tussle erupted in 2013, not a single cent was withdrawn from LDP’s bank accounts.
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“The banks only unfroze the accounts after the Registrar of Societies (ROS) officially endorsed our line-up as legitimate, and only then we changed the signatory in the banks.”
Chin added that the party leadership, including the secretary general Datuk Yong Wui Chung, had already provided all evidence and information to the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and MACC in the 1MDB probe before this.