MACC confirms Bersatu accounts frozen

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Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has confirmed that the graft-busters have frozen Bersatu’s accounts.

He said the accounts were frozen to enable the MACC to investigate funds believed to have been obtained from illegal proceeds.

The investigations were under the MACC Act 2009 and Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

It was initially believed that the freeze is related to the MACC’s probe on government funds amounting to RM92.5 billion of pandemic stimulus funds that were allegedly misappropriated.

However, it was reported that the account freeze was over allegations that Bersatu received contributions from some 10 contractors who received various projects when the party was running the government.

The amount of contributions was suspected to be around RM230 million in total.

The balance in the two Bersatu bank accounts is currently around RM40 million.

In early January, the MACC detained a chief executive officer of a private company as a suspect in its probe.

The CEO is suspected to be a middle person in the distribution of government projects under the economic stimulus package between 2020 and 2022.

The detainee later turned out to be a Bersatu division leader – although party deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu was quick to distance party president Muhyiddin Yassin from any wrongdoing.

It was also alleged that RM4.5 billion of this amount had ended up in Perikatan Nasional’s war chest for the 15th general election, a claim Muhyiddin had strongly denied.

The party yesterday released its audited accounts to further dispel such allegations.