Defeated Umno presidential candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah claims to have heard rumours of money politics influencing the party polls.

"I have heard bad news. I hope this is a rumour and is not true. But I heard in this election, a lot of money was used.

"If this is true, then this is disheartening, because the future leadership of this party will rely on money too," he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

Tengku Razaleigh said that money politics should be abolished, and that it can be a cancer in the party.

However, he stressed that if the rumours turn out to be untrue, then the outcome of the polls would be positive for Umno.

Tengku Razaleigh lost out in the contest for the presidency to former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Berita Harian article on Tengku Razaleigh's claims was retweeted by fellow losing contestant Khairy Jamaluddin.

When asked about his future plans now that he had lost the party polls, Razaleigh said he plans to take a rest as he is 81 and has been in politics for six decades.

Razaleigh also denied he was one of the holders of 900 accounts frozen by the MACC as part of its 1MDB probe.