UMNO Youth should lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over Bersatu’s use of money politics to entice Umno members, said Akmal Nasir today.

The PKR youth chief said his counterparts in Umno must lodge the report on the basis of political integrity and principle.

“The claims by the Umno Youth chief that he has evidence of Bersatu buying Umno members confirms the spread of money politics.

“It is very disappointing that such dirty practices involve parties hiding behind race and religion sentiments,” said the Johor Baru MP.

On Saturday, Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said Bersatu must stop “buying” Umno members if it wants to preserve the Umno-Bersatu partnership.

“Lately, there have been many complaints and concerns from Umno members throughout the country that Bersatu members are stealing and buying Umno members,” Asyraf Wajdi said in a statement.

“Some have confessed to being offered RM100 to join Bersatu with each ‘new’ branch being allocated RM3,000-RM5,000”.

“If this phenomenon is to continue, it would only confirm the allegations that Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN) are bent on destroying Umno.”

The Umno-Bersatu relationship has been rocky although they are together in the PN ruling pact.

Over the weekend, 143 of the 191 Umno divisions nationwide had called for the party to end its ties with Bersatu, and to call for a quick general election.

The Umno Supreme Council is set to meet on Wednesday to decide on this.

Akmal added that any attempts to bribe Umno members to defect to Bersatu must be reported to the MACC immediately.

He said an MACC investigation on this can also look into promises of appointments and positions given by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin in return of support for him to remain the prime minister.

He also said the Bersatu youth chief had also previously promised government support letters in return of support for him to win the post in the recent party polls.

“No investigations have been done on this although many reports had been lodged,” said Akmal.

There were talks in November that Umno was ready to support PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to form a new government to replace PN.

However, that did not materialise with Umno backing Muhyiddin in the Budget 2021 votes. – January 4, 2021.