YOURSAY | ‘Where’s the money now? Umno, please answer since it was a political donation.’

On RM2.6b, Najib’s answers beg more questions

Kim Quek: The blunt truth is that such a bizarre sequence of events would have been unimaginable in any democracy – the prime minister would have been jailed a long time ago, instead of roaming scot-free and flexing his muscles even more vigorously.

The fact that the scandal has dragged on for five months with investigations becoming less and less audible and visible, speaks volume of the pitiful impotence of this country’s law-enforcing institutions when confronted with mega crimes committed by the ruling elite.

What is even more absurd in this case is that the entire ruling political leadership seem to be happily playing ball with their leader to come up with ever new and changing versions of the events for public consumption, in an obvious manoeuvre to extricate their leader from the legal loop.

Equally alarming is that the hierarchy of the ruling party in its annual conference has now noisily warned critics not to lay their hands on their errant leader.

What does this signal to the nation? Isn’t it clear that this regime intends to license mega corruption, as long as it is practiced by the ruling clique?

All Malaysians, irrespective of political affiliation and race and religion, have to take a deep breath and decide: do we want this state of affairs to continue, or should we boldly break with the past, and bring in a new political leadership to make sweeping changes?

Bluemountains: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can say that he had not committed an offence and his conscience is clear.

But to really vindicate himself, he must willingly produce all paper trails of the RM2.6 billion. Will he do it to prove his innocence?

FellowMalaysian: There are many critically important questions that must be answered before Najib can declare himself clean.

Bank Negara so far is dead silent about the transaction; the Umno secretary could not produce any record, Ambank refused to reveal the source of the funds deposited into Najib's account and also the benefactor when the funds were allegedly transferred out again.

The fact that Najib has seemingly and successfully emasculated all the investigative institutions, including the Royal Malaysian Police, Bank Negara, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Attorney-General’s office, and cowed them into submission and compliance, it appears there's little to stop him from a runaway victory.

Calling Najib a dictator would then seem to be an understatement.

Anonymous #19098644: Selling your nation to foreigners for money, be it donation or for influence, is treason.

Not reporting the monies received by Umno makes it false reporting of its audited accounts. False reporting of accounts means that the Registrar of Societies must sanction the organisation and the office bearers, including deregistration.

SusahKes: If it is a political donation, then by convention and rules of good governance, it should have been deposited into the party's account.

Deposit elsewhere. and especially into a personal individual account, the Inland Revenue Board (IRD) must immediately launch an investigation. If it is a personal donation, then it would be taxable regardless of the motive.

And since such contributions are not tax exempt; otherwise, every time you generate income in your affairs, you only need to record it as donation to escape paying taxes.

And of course, the mother of all questions - what happened to the balance, subsequent to the closure of Najib's ‘personal-but-not-like-that’ account? Did Umno get it back? After all, the donation was meant for them.

The PM's explanation has not satisfactorily resolved the issue. Any basic level of common sense would tell us that there are still holes in Najib's story.

And I guess this is what Najib is inclined toward doing for now - buy time, until he has sorted out the new National Security Council (NSC) bill, one that would allow him near unfettered powers.

And secondly, to strengthen his new found 'love affair' with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. That would be followed by a redelineation exercise, and Umno would attempt to recover back the coveted two-thirds majority.

Anonymous_1421806811: Only the politically naive would believe the donation - if it is indeed a donation from an individual - came without any strings attached.

The fact that Najib hid the donation from his own party and initially even denied it, showed he had many things to hide.

Malaysia really needs a prime minister who is not stupid and who can judge what is right and wrong. Hopefully, Umno members will wake up to reality before GE14.

Odin Tajué: Excellent show, old chap. But then again, one expects nothing less from you.

There is one other thing. When Najib sat down for an interview over breakfast on the eve of the Umno general assembly, one of the things he said was to the effect that if the Arabs liked you and their relationship with you were personal, they would make such an astronomical donation. Woo hoo! Really?

He went on to say, "It is not on an institutional basis or party basis. It is personal. That's why they insisted it should be personal to me. That was the wish of the donors. I didn't want to offend them. It went into my personal account, but not in the sense that I use it for everyday expenses…"

How convincing. How logical. How believable. If you asked me, I think his brains have been ravaged by intense guilt as well as by paralysing fear, and thus have caused his mouth to spew out puerile inanity.

Wira: Where is the money now? Umno, please answer since the RM2.6 billion was a political donation.

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