Najib Alleges He Gave RM10 Million In Cash To "One Of Mahathir's People" For GE13
He said that running a major party like UMNO is an expensive affair.
By Sadho Ram — 28 Jun 2018, 02:16 PM
On Wednesday, 27 June, former prime minister Najib Razak, while speaking to Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview at the news portal's office in Petaling Jaya, claimed that Tun Dr Mahathir's aide collected RM10 million in cash from him for the 13th general election
The man, who Najib said, was one of Dr Mahathir's "trusted aides"
The former UMNO president, while describing the man as a well-known swimmer, said that the money was collected from his private residence in Jalan Duta.
While Najib Razak revealed the name of the said aide, Malaysiakini said that they are withholding the identity of the person pending his response.
Tun Dr Mahathir was still with UMNO during GE13 in 2013
However, in 2015, Tun Dr Mahathir became a vocal critic of Najib and his BN administration following allegations in the media that Najib was involved in the misappropriation of millions of dollars from 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Following which, Dr Mahathir left UMNO and formed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to join the then-opposition's successful but unprecedented bid for power.
Najib brought out the claim of him paying RM10 million in cash to Dr Mahathir's aide during GE13 as a defence that the RM116 million in case seized from premises linked to him were for election expenses
However, when it was pointed out to him by Malaysiakini that the cash amount seized was recovered after the 14th general election, Najib said, "You will not know how much it (an election campaign) costs exactly. And you will not know as well how much people will contribute to you."
Najib, who was also the Finance Minister, claimed that it was "impossible" to have a clean zero balance.
"In any case, when you fight an election, you have to spend pre-election, during election and post-election. Don't forget I was president of the party of UMNO and BN with 13 component parties. Running a major party with three million members like UMNO is an expensive affair," he told Malaysiakini in the interview.