Former Damansara member of parliament Tony Pua has urged Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to audit the money trail into Umno’s RM50 million donation account for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to confirm that the funds raised were legitimate and not laundered, according to NST.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the DAP figure said the sum could have gone to ordinary Malaysians instead of to the fine that lets the former prime minister serve the rest of his prison sentence under house arrest.
“More importantly, I call upon Bank Negara Malaysia and the MACC to audit the money trails going into Umno’s donation account for Najib, to make sure that all the funds raised were legitimate, and not laundered,” he wrote.
He also wrote that Umno “claimed to have successfully raised RM50 million to send Malaysia’s biggest crook, Najib Razak, back home for house arrest”, and that the party had chosen to “free” Najib rather than spend the money on Malaysians. “Umno colours shine very brightly,” he added, asking Malaysians of every race, religion and creed to look at what he called Umno and Barisan Nasional’s true colours.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the party had settled the RM50 million fine once the Najib Razak Solidarity Fund, launched in September, reached its target, FMT noted.
The party completed payment procedures with the Kuala Lumpur High Court that morning and closed the fund’s dedicated account, which had been opened to receive public donations, Sinar Daily reported.
The collection ran for about seven weeks between its launch and Friday’s announcement that the target had been met.
Najib has been in Kajang Prison since 23 August 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering over RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
He was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine. In January 2024, the Federal Territories Pardons Board cut the jail term to six years and reduced the fine to RM50 million.
On 18 September, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim granted Najib a further conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until 23 August 2028.
The pardon was conditional on payment of the RM50 million fine and on compliance with other conditions, which the party’s fund was raised to meet.
Pua did not name any donor or transaction that the two agencies should examine.
