JOHOR Umno views the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s (MACC) move to freeze the party’s accounts as an attempt to paralyse and destroy the party, said Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad. 

The Johor Umno liaison committee deputy chairman said that without a steady source of funding, no political party could last for long. 

“(This action) is to pressure Umno. It is more towards paralysing the party and banning the party. 

“When we have no money, the party would go down. This is more to sabotaging us,” he told The Malaysian Insight.   

Latiff questioned MACC’s selective persecution of political parties especially aimed at Umno. 

“Even though MACC is following the rule of law, any party that has received suspicious donations needs to be investigated also.

“It is as though Umno is being pressured. The funds were also received by MCA, The then president has admitted to it. But why are they not investigated?” he asked. 

The Mersing lawmaker said MACC was going after Umno because the party had received money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s subsidiary, SRC International. 

“If I’m not mistaken this has to do with SRC International’s fund that had been channelled to Umno liaison committee in Selangor. 

“This case is not new because the previous Attorney-General said there was no case and closed it. When there is a new A-G, it is going to be reopened but this case has been around since 2015 itself,” Latiff said. 

“The MACC has the power to take action when there is a report on any party breaching the Anti Money Laundering Act,” he added. 

Latiff who is Umno Mersing division chief added his own division did not get a cut of the money. 

 “I am not really sure but Umno Mersing is not involved. We did not receive this funding,” he said, adding that they would cooperate  with the headquarters to resolve this matter. 

However, Latiff said MACC must follow proper procedures when handling the case as the many of the Umno staff’s livelihoods depend on the party’s money. 

“They need to follow procedures. The commitment from the party to pay the works should continue. 

“The workers must be paid. We need to ask permission to allocate those funds for administrative duties,” he said. 

The accounts for the party’s headquarters and Umno Selangor have been frozen by MACC yesterday. 

Umno acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi accused the government and Registrar of Societies for wanting to deregister the opposition party. 

Meanwhile, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said there was no ill intent behind the investigations and MACC were following the rule of law. – June 29, 2018.