PETALING JAYA, March 7 — Selangor Umno has denied any knowledge of a supposed deal involving a party member said to be demanding money from an Australian company, for securing an endorsement for loan approvals using Malaysian state-funds.
Its secretary Datuk Johan Abdul Aziz told Malay Mail that the state party division had never held discussions of such nature with any Australian company.
“That is a stupid report, whoever’s report it is.
“I am the secretary and as far as I know, we have never discussed about that and we know nothing about such deals,” he said.
This was in response to a report by The Australian newspaper, claiming a Selangor Umno leader had issued legal letters to an Australian civil servant demanding compensation for endorsing a US$1 billion (RM3.9 billion) loan that supposedly never materialised.
Through a company called Ladylaw Securities, the report claimed that if the loan had gone through, the party member was in line for a two percent commission, or US$25 million.
It claimed that the party member was insisting on a compensation of the amount from Ladylaw even after the loan application fell through.
Johan, also Semenyih's Assemblyman, then challenged The Australian to reveal the name of the implicated party member.
“There are so many people in Umno, I challenge them to identify the person they are referring to in the report.
“Once they publish the name we will lodge a police report, because we have never discussed such things,” he said.
In the report, The Australian detailed that the Australian civil servant, identified as Nic Manikis, had received three legal letters from the Umno member demanding for money, with the latest being on February 18.
The report claimed the legal letter received by the official cited a supposed “letter of consent from the Deputy Minister of Finance Malaysia to support the investment proposal proposed by Ladylaw Securities”.
