PAS' Zaharudin Muhammad, a figure who has been linked to the infamous recording featuring the party’s central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Aziz talking about receiving money from Umno, has lashed out against a group he dubs the "dedak cartel".

Dedak, or animal feed, is a Malay term for bribes made famous by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In Zaharudin's case, the cartel refers to those who received funds from Umno or those linked to Umno.

The audio clip in question was widely circulated early last year, and ostensibly depicts a person talking about Umno's funding of PAS.

In the recording, an individual can be heard admitting that PAS leaders, including himself, late spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, and even party president Abdul Hadi Awang had received funds from Umno.

The person also says that PAS received RM2 million from Umno with the knowledge of its top leaders to defeat DAP in the 2016 Sarawak state election.

Nik Abduh had initially denied being the person speaking in the audio recording, but came clean in February this year. He claimed Hadi had given him permission to deny being the person in the audio clip.

A purported witness claimed that Zaharudin had protested “taking Umno money” to Nik Abduh in response to the latter’s remarks in the recording.

In a series of Facebook posts which began yesterday, Zaharudin, who is the son-in-law of PAS president Hadi, said he was not trying to revive old allegations.

Instead, he claimed he was defending himself from accusations that he was the one who recorded Nik Abduh's remarks and leaked it.

He said if he was the source for the recording, he would have revealed even more details, such as claims that the recording was misused to appease those who were unhappy with corrupt PAS leaders.

"[...] the recording was played to prove that the act of taking dedak was done by the top leadership - when it actually was not, and I will show proof that the act of taking dedak was not condoned by top leaders," Zaharudin said in one post.

In a later post, Zaharudin said his remarks had attracted ire from those who accused him of leaking party secrets.

"I want to stress that what I wrote is not about secrets of the congregation (party), because this is not the decision of PAS and its top leaders.

"What I revealed was the secrets of the dedak cartel," he said.

He added in later posts that he was not aiming to cause a rift between PAS and Umno, as the current cooperation is based on common interests for the benefit of Muslims.

Malaysiakini has contacted Zaharudin and Nik Abduh for comment.