GEORGE TOWN, Aug 3 – DAP was never contacted on any proposal to regulate political funding, secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said when denying his party rejected a law that would require the disclosure of donations and other financing.

The Penang chief minister was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's remark that DAP had blocked a previous proposal to require all political parties to reveal how their operations are funded.

“The prime minister had never approached us about this; I hate to call him a liar, but he has never approached us on this at all,” he said at a press conference in his office here today.

On Saturday, Najib announced his intention to propose regulations requiring political parties to divulge the sources of their political funds.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke earlier today had rejected the claim that his party had opposed the proposal to reveal its political funding.

Lim today also denied that DAP was financed by US billionaire George Soros, calling the allegation “absurd.”

He then insisted that Najib answer allegations over 1 Malaysian Development Berhad instead of turning his attention to regulate political funding.

“If we want to talk about political funding, I'm sure Umno has more to answer and let's not forget about 1MDB, they can't run, they can't hide and they can't cover it up any more,” he said.

Najib has been accused of receiving US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) in his personal accounts.

The allegation first arose in a Wall Street Journal article that claimed the amount was channelled from 1MDB into Najib's bank accounts.

But in a subsequent allegation, former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that he was informed by Najib that the RM2.6 billion came from “somewhere in the Middle East.”

Najib during the weekend said he was prepared to reveal the source of Umno's political funding, but would only do so if opposition parties followed suit.