Rafidah says concerned about influence on Malaysia if RM2.6b donation came with strings attached

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Ex-minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz has questioned whether the RM2.6 billion donation to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came with conditions as this would mean that the donors had influence over the Malaysian government.

Malay-language daily Sinar Harian reported today the former international trade and industry minister as saying that if there were people influencing Umno, it would mean there was influence over the government and Umno members should be concerned, amid claims that the huge sum of money to Najib, who is also Umno president, came from Arab royalty.

“I wonder what agreements could have been made behind the donation? What could have been promised to them (the donors)?” she was quoted saying.

“Umno is the core party of the BN government. To influence Umno means to influence the government,” she added.

Rafidah urged Umno members to be concerned about this issue, saying that money politics had become the norm in the ruling Malay party and that it could be a serious problem.

“Every Umno member should feel that this RM2.6 billion issue as their own problem. Fundamentally, this has displayed how money politics have reached a new high,” she was quoted saying.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), while confirming the RM2.6 billion was a donation and that it did not come from state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), did not reveal the source of the money other than that it came from a “Middle Eastern donor”.

Kepong Umno division chief Datuk Rizuan Abdul Hamid recently claimed that the source of the money was an “Arab king and prince” who supported Najib’s anti-Jewish stance.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said recently he had met the chief investment officer of the Arab family that contributed the RM2.6 billion and said that the money was intended to keep Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in power.

Najib announced two weeks ago the formation of a bipartisan panel to gather input for a law to regulate political funding.

The prime minister denied that the idea was a result of the furore over the RM2.6 billion deposited into his personal bank accounts, saying that the panel, called the National Consultative Committee on Political Funding, was a follow-up to his 2009 pledge to regulate political funding.