Tuesday, 12 March 2013 12:12
THE
'DIRTY' 8? Rafizi challenges Najib to drop 8 senior Umno leaders from GE13 list
Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli has unveiled a list of 8 senior
Umno leaders whom he challenged Prime Minister Najib Razak to drop as
candidates for the 13th general election, saying it was an "acid
test" for the public to assess how sincere Najib's promise of
"incorruptibility" was."It is up to Najib to prove his word ...because these are senior leaders and there are already cases against them or there have been. If the standard that has been placed against the Opposition is that our candidates must be whiter than white, the same should apply to them," Rafizi told a press conference on Tuesday.
The 8 leaders are:
Shahrizat Jalil, Umno women's chief
Musa Aman, Sabah Chief Minister
Nazri Aziz, Minister in the PM's Department
Mohamad Hassan, Chief Minister of Negeri Sembilan
Taib Mahumud, Chief Minister of Sarawak
Ahmad Said, Chief Minister of Terengganu
Awang Adek Hussin, Deputy Finance Minister
Shafie Apdal, Minister of Rural Development
Taib's fabulous wealth
All 8 on the PKR list have indeed come under the public spotlight for
alleged corruption.Taib Mahmud, for example has been accused of being one of the richest men in the world and is reportedly being investigated by the Swiss government for laundering money earned from illicit timber operations.
There is little doubt that Taib is rich beyond his means to earn as chief of the Sarawak state government. The flamboyant lifestyles that he and his family lead are well known and long-entrenched.
Shahrizat's Cowgate
Despite being cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Shahrizat Jalil has not been able to shake off the public perception that she could not have failed to realize her family was corruptly involved in the RM250mil NFC debacle.
Her husband has been charged for criminal breach of trust in the NFC, a national cattle breeding project.
Musa's Amangate
Musa Aman, whose Sabah state was recently put into turmoil following the intrusion of a small group of foreign gunmen, has been probed by the Hong Kong anti-graft agency also for alleged money-laundering.
He has also been accused of blocking the deportation of his nephew Manuel Amalilio, who is wanted by the Philippine authorities for a 12bil peso (RM900mil) Ponzi scam that was allegedly created to tap funds for Musa's election war chest.
Malaysia is expected to hold its 13th general election within the next few weeks and despite numerous postponements by Najib, its Parliament is due to automatically dissolve on April 28.
Unless the Najib administration declares a state of emergency and suspends Parliament, GE13 will have to be held one way or another and the chances of Opposition Leader Anwar and his PR coalition of PKR, PAS and DAP parties winning are rated highly.
Many experts have predicted a regime change, the first-ever since the country gained independence from British colonialists in 1957.
Ahmad Said
At the press conference, Rafizi also furnished further documentary evidence to allegedly prove Ahmad Said, the Terengganu Chief Minister's hand in a timber concessions scandal.
Rafizi had previously alleged that Ahmad had used RM2 firms as intermediaries to sell timber concessions to operators, demanding a RM1 mil price for selling shares in dormant firms into which the timber licences had been injected or granted.
On Tuesday, Rafizi distributed copies of an official receipt from a lawyer's firm dated December 12, 2011, accepting a RM1 million cheque from Maybank as payment for one of the sales.
"Until now, there is neither information or any move by the MACC to prosecute even though there is clear evidence of payment as well as contractual agreements that were clearly signed tying the RM2 firms with the Terengganu state tender of timber concessions," said Rafizi.
Malaysia Chronicle
