KOTA KINABALU, May 22 — Parti Warisan Sabah vice president Datuk Junz Wong has denied allegations of vote buying in its recent party elections, claiming it was the work of disgruntled parties.

Wong said that there was no real evidence to back up the claims made on social media.

"No such thing .... Firstly we don’t have that money even if we want to.

"Secondly, with money politics going away with the fall of BN, it’s the perfect time for Warisan to push through our agenda to start a new culture of politics to compete on policies, hard work and leadership instead of vote buying in Sabah,” he said.

Wong said he believed the allegations were a tactic to divert attention from the party’s strong influences in Sabah which many are unwilling to admit and accept this fact.

He said that authorities were welcome to open an investigation into whether any vote buying occurred.

".. but I can assure u even now that there is none,” he said.

Meanwhile, Warisan secretary Loretto Padua Jr also said that there were no official reports or complaints of vote-buying since the party election concluded early this month.

When asked why he thought such claims surfaced he said those who lost in the party election "got a bit emotional”.

An online portal recently reported that Warisan member Ismaily Bungsu had made claims of money politics at the party election, which he backed by photos of a woman holding two "ang pau” packets, purportedly containing money between RM100-RM150, with the candidate’s numbers.

In his Facebook post, Ismaily had said the practice of money politics could ruin the party.

He also said he was accused of ruining the party’s image with his allegations but said he did it out of love for Warisan.

It was also reported that the post had prompted non-governmental organisation, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Movement (Geram), to ask anti-graft authorities to open an investigation.

Spokesman Rauf Jualis said Ismaily should lodge a report with MACC and cooperate in the probe.