THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must authenticate an audio recording purportedly of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin offering positions to Umno MPs in exchange for support, said lawyer Ramkarpal Singh.

Ramkarpal, who is DAP national legal bureau chairman, said there will be serious implications if the recording is genuine.

“The first we need to stress here is whether the recording is authentic. Only technical experts can determine the same. Such expertise are within the purview of the MACC and the police.

“The implications of the recording if proven to be true, is a serious matter.

“The offering or receiving of positions is a form of corruption. It amounts to gratification, which comes within the MACC Act 2009,” he told the press outside the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur, where DAP youth had gone to lodge a report on the matter.

Ramkarpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, urged the MACC as well as Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador to investigate the matter.

He said the people have a right to know if the recording, leaked over the weekend, is authentic and if so, whether MPs in Barisan Nasional were enticed into joining Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN), which led to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

Ramkarpal said a police report on the matter will also be lodged at Dang Wangi police station today.

“MACC and the police have the responsibility to carry out investigations.

“Once the investigations are over, the report will be submitted to the attorney-general. He will then check the reports and make a decision.

“It’s now up to the MACC and police.”

The leaked audio recording was released on social media and supposedly of Muhyiddin speaking at a Bersatu supreme council meeting on February 23.

A voice resembling the party president’s is heard talking about ways to lure support from Umno leaders to join Bersatu in forming a new government.

The voice is heard saying Umno MPs could be enticed with posts in government-linked companies.

“We can give them positions… if not ministers, then chairmen of GLCs (government-linked companies).

“They might not want to be left out. Rather than… becoming the opposition, they (would) want to be part of the government.”

Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as Bersatu president and prime minister the following day, February 24, sparking the collapse of the PH government.

He had said that his resignation was because Bersatu did not listen to him about staying in PH.

Other audio clips of excerpts of the Bersatu supreme council meeting on February 23 have also been leaked in recent weeks, some purportedly to show that Dr Mahathir had agreed that Bersatu should leave PH, which he has denied. – June 1, 2020.