JOHOR Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin may be on the way out and should come clean on allegations linking him to a property scandal, says state DAP chief Liew Chin Tong.

The Kluang MP said he discovered from his friends in Umno that there were attempts to install new state chiefs in Johor, as well as Malacca, who were more loyal to Prime Minister Najib Razak. 

“My advice to Khaled is for him to be careful as the knife is out for him from within Umno. It is better for him to come clean on the allegations against him to enable him to keep whatever credibility he may still have. 

“In the event Khaled is ousted by Umno, at least he can stand tall in the eyes of the public if he is seen as an honest person,” Liew said on sidelines of the launch of Wanita Pakatan Harapan Johor in Johor Baru today.

Liew said there was talk in Umno that recent investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Johor and Malacca were part of attempts to push up Najib loyalists.

“My friends in Umno are of the view that recent MACC activities in Johor and Malacca are related to the attempt to move Khaled and (Malacca Chief Minister) Idris (Haron) to federal (seats) and replace them with a new set of leaders who will be more loyal to Najib.

“Anyone familiar with Malaysian politics would know that such revelations implicating the menteri besar of Johor can only come from within Umno.”

The allegations against Khaled were first raised by DAP Senai rep Wong Shu Qi in the Johor state assembly, where she questioned whether he had received kickbacks amounting to RM12 million to change the status of a residential plot of land.

Wong had cited documents that were part of a MACC investigation into the scandal.

Khaled denied the allegation on December 4, saying that the claim was baseless and slanderous, while urging the authorities to probe Wong for citing classified documents.

On Friday, Wong’s statement was recorded by the police to assist investigations into the leaked MACC witness statements.

Blogger Milosuam, or Yusof Al-Siddique Suratman, was arrested on December 8 and remanded for three days to facilitate police investigations into the document leaks.

Yusof allegedly uploaded an article that contained a page of the leaked MACC witness statement document on his blog.

He is being investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for using network facilities or services to transmit communication that is deemed offensive or causing annoyance, and Section 203A of the Penal Code, relating to disclosure of information.

Liew said that the harassment faced by both Wong and Yusof were “bullying tactics to conceal a real and major crisis in Johor Umno”.

He also said Khaled must not become like Malaysian Official No. 1 or “MO1” – the unnamed individual in US civil suits over assets bought with money allegedly stolen from 1Malaysia Development Bhd who was later confirmed to be Najib by Barisan Nasional strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan. – December 10, 2017.