Justifying his lie, Nik Abduh says denial of audio recording done with Hadi’s “blessings” and father Nik Aziz also “lied” too to protect party secrets.
Bachok MP Nik Abduh Nik Aziz claimed that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had given his “blessings” for him to deny that it was his voice on the recording alleging that PAS had received money from Umno.
The man in the audio recording had purportedly discussed receiving RM2 million from Umno, which Sarawak Report (SR) editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown produced as evidence to back her allegation that PAS took RM90 million from then Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In the recording, Nik Abduh also admits that PAS leaders including himself, his late father Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, and even Hadi had received funds from Umno.
The recording was leaked and went viral in early 2018.
According to Nik Abduh, he was faced with two choices; to speak the truth or to issue a denial.
The recording was of a speech he had given in an internal meeting, for a select audience, thus Nik Abduh reasoned that it was his right to guard the secrecy of the meeting and not to betray it.
Both options, according to him, were syariah-compliant choices.
However, Nik Abduh said he realised that it was not just his name on the line.
“I was representing PAS in the community. The recording, although rooted in bringing down my reputation, was grabbed by enemies as soon as it went viral to bring down PAS. While PAS members did not yet have the time to get angry at me, PAS’ political enemies were already celebrating it,” Nik Mohamad Abduh said.
He explained that he then referred the matter to several party leaders who he said understood the matter well.
They decided it was best for him to deny it.
“It was difficult for me to refuse, but they insisted that I deny it. We must put a stop to the slander, they had argued,” he said, adding that at the time, the country was nearing the 14th General Election (GE14).
It was in the midst of facing this difficulty that Nik Abduh said he sought an answer from Abdul Hadi.
“Immediately the PAS president gave his blessings on the decision for me to deny it (the recording). I accepted and was happy to receive the mandate,” he said.
Nik Abduh, in April last year, denied he was the person in the recording, and claimed the audio was fabricated to tarnish his image.
Yesterday, Nik Abduh finally admitted that he was the person in an audio recording critics claim was proof that the party received money from Umno.
His admission on social media came in the wake of PAS admitting on Tuesday that it was indeed Nik Abduh’s voice in the leaked audio recording.
In a Facebook posting yesterday, Nik Abduh alleged that initially, he had wanted to speak the truth instead of issuing a denial.
“Speaking the truth will set us free. A lie will be a prison that will trap us. I choose to come clean. I was confident that the content of my speech would be easily understood if the context was understood,” he said.
He said he decided to tell the truth at the courts in London and to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probing the case.
Nik Abduh also brought up his father’s name in his self-defence of denying the controversial audio recording in which he was said to have confessed that PAS had received millions of ringgit from rival Umno.
The Pasir Mas MP was reported saying the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had also done a similar thing in the past in order to protect party secrets.
“It is a matter of secrecy and when we are in a major party, what more an Islamic party, therefore the matter is something that is valid. There is lore regarding this in religion. There are many examples,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.