Zahid puzzled by PN’s plan to take legal action against him
Published on: Saturday, May 27, 2023
By:
Faisal Asyraf, FMT
During the 15th general election, Anwar Ibrahim and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi implied that Perikatan Nasional funded their campaign through gaming companies.
PUTRAJAYA: Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is puzzled by Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Muhyiddin Yassin’s plan to take legal action against him over an allegation that the coalition received funds from gaming companies.
“Me? Why me?” he said, when asked to comment on Muhyiddin’s statement yesterday demanding an apology from Zahid and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for linking gaming companies to the coalition.
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The Umno president said that law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said had already explained the matter and, therefore, he would allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the issue.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin said the fact that Azalina stated the claim could not be verified proved that the allegation was “defamatory” and “a lie”.
Subsequently, Azalina denied that the anti-graft agency had dropped its inquiry into allegations that PN had received funds from gaming companies to fund its general election (GE15) campaign last year.
She said MACC had only stated that no investigation papers had been opened so far due to the general nature of the information obtained.
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In December 2022, Anwar was reported to have suggested that PN’s funds for its election campaign partly came from gaming companies, particularly those that were allowed to offer additional “special draws” in the weekly numbers lottery.
Zahid echoed Anwar’s statement, claiming that he was confident that the “other side” had gained funds from the gambling companies.
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Separately, responding to speculation that there was likely to be a Cabinet reshuffle after the state elections are held, Zahid said the matter was the prerogative and discretion of the prime minister.
“We’ll wait and see whether it happens. But, in my opinion, all (Cabinet members) have been performing,” he said.
Recently, a source told FMT that there was likely to be a Cabinet reshuffle and a “clean-up” of senior civil servants.
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