The controversy surrounding Barisan Nasional candidate Rohaizat Othman’s disbarment took a new twist today when his partner, the one Umno accused of taking their client’s money, appeared to deny the allegation.

Yusri Ishak alleged that the money was used by Rohaizat to help his friend-cum-client to finance a land transaction worth RM 130,000 which was to be reimbursed but the Umno politician’s friend had failed to do so.

Rohaizat then claimed the land, planning to sell it to remit the funds used to purchase it but to no avail, said Yusri, adding that that was one of the reasons why Rohaizat had failed to repay the co-operative.

He also said some of the co-operative funds had been used to help another of Rohaizat’s friends, a director in a housing development company, and also to manage the firm’s branch in Ipoh.

The 38-year-old lost an appeal on Aug 12 against being struck off the rolls of the Malaysian Bar after he blamed his partner for the matter which the Bar Council said involved RM161,000 in client’s money.

Rohaizat is facing PAS’s Mohd Salleh Man Mat Aji in a straight fight for the Permatang Pasir state seat on Aug 25, the country’s eighth by-election since Election 2008.

Umno has dismissed the issue, saying Rohaizat has paid back the money and it is not a criminal case, accusing the opposition of playing up the issue.

Rohaizat was disbarred last year after he was found guilty by the Bar Council’s disciplinary board of misconduct for failing to return the money to the Penang Rubber Smallholders’ Cooperative.

The Bar Council has clarified that Rohaizat had been found guilty of personal misconduct and had lost his appeal against the decision in the High Court last Wednesday, five days before Umno nominated him for the by-election.

The Bar Council’s statement contradicts Rohaizat’s version of the events. The candidate blames his partner in his law firm for committing the misconduct.

His candidacy has become a major embarrassment for Umno as it brings up questions about the party’s vetting process.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is in charge of Umno/BN’s campaign in the by-election, has been particularly embarrassed.

Asked yesterday about reports Rohaizat had been the subject of numerous complaints and how he had been fined twice by the Bar Council, the Deputy Prime Minister likened the fines to parking tickets.

He said the Umno campaign was considering having Rohaizat put out a statutory declaration to clear the air on the controversy.

“What Umno and Barisan Nasional information chief Ahmad Maslan said, that I was the one who absconded with the money, is a lie,” Yusri told a press conference here organised by PAS.

Party officials said they were giving Yusri a platform to explain himself.

“It is impossible that Rohaizat is not aware of money flowing in and out of the firm’s account of which he is also a signatory,” said Yusri.

Yusri, who is also a former Umno member, blasted Ahmad for describing Rohaizat as a “hero”, saying that what the BN candidate had done was unethical and morally illegitimate although he is deemed “legally clean” by Umno leaders.

“I think he has high ambitions to be a politician so he did not want to reveal the problems he was having with the Bar Council,” he said.

“So Umno leaders only realised this after nomination so they made me a scapegoat to defend themselves,” Yusri said, adding that the accusation had impacted him and his family and forced him to come out and defend himself.

Yusri, however, said he held no grudges against Rohaizat, whom he described as his close friend, and wished him luck in facing PAS candidate Mohd Salleh Man in the by-election here.

He said he believes Rohaizat was pressured to pin the blame on him.

Asked who he would vote for in the by-election, ironically he said he would opt for his close friend.

Rohaizat’s disbarment has overshadowed other issues in the campaign, with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders hammering home the issue at all its rallies.

PR and PAS leaders are also urging Rohaizat to withdraw as a candidate.

Source : The Malaysian Insider

Technorati Tags: bar council, by-election, malaysian bar, permatang pasir, rohaizat, umno, yusri

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has denied using “Gestapo” tactics when arresting Wong Chuan How, the special assistant to a Selangor exco member, on Friday.

“MACC officers never pushed Wong until he fell. Wong would not have been injured if he had followed directive and cooperated in the investigation,” MACC said in a statement today.

It said initial investigation found that several aid programmes using the allocation of the Sungei Pelek state sssemblyman could not be implemented although they had been approved and the cheques given to Wong.

This made Wong the main suspect and MACC decided to arrest him on Aug 5 but telephone calls and SMSes sent to him went unanswered.

“Finally, on Aug 13, Wong sent SMSes to MACC officers saying he was prepared to meet them at the Sungei Pelek state assemblyman service centre at 9am on Aug 14,” said the statement.

On Friday (Aug 14), a team of MACC officers met Wong and his two lawyers at the said place. The MACC officers showed them their authority cards.

“He (Wong) was told that he would be taken to MACC office in Putrajaya for further investigation as case documents were kept there.”

MACC said Wong and the lawyers protested saying he was bound by the Selangor State Secretary circular Bil. 4, 2009.

Wong was then arrested by the MACC officers under Section 18 of MACC Act 2009 and Section 406 of Penal Code.

He also refused to sign a notice under Section 53 (3) of MACC Act 2009 which was read and given to him.

Wong, through his lawyers, then them asked MACC officers permission to lodge a police report on his arrest before following them to Putrajaya.

The MACC offficers agreed but told Wong that he was under custody and had to go in their car to the police station.

“However, as Wong who was not handcuffed was about to get into the car, he suddenly pushed the officers hands and tried to escape.

“The officers had to stop Wong from escaping and hugged him from behind as he was struggling. He then fell on the five-foot-way of a shop.”

MACC stressed that the officers never pushed Wong until he fell.

It asked the public for cooperation to fight corruption and not to make disparaging statements based on sentiments.

Source : Bernama

Technorati Tags: arrest, corruption, exco, gestapo, MACC, Selangor, wong chuan how

MCA officials pledged their support behind embattled party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and claimed records show no donations received from Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers chief Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing last year.

Tiong, who is also CEO of Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), had claimed this week that he had made a RM10 million donation to MCA through Ong.

His company also disclosed how Ong, the transport minister, had taken at least four flights on its private jets without paying for it.

Ong, who has built up an image of being clean and transparent, was forced to deny the allegations and called a special closed-door briefing for divisional leaders here today in an attempt to explain himself.

But his reputation is now in tatters following the allegations.

His position as party president is shaky with supporters of deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was absent from today’s gathering, expected to push ahead with plans to call for an extraordinary general meeting to remove him.

Yesterday, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers are believed to have questioned Tiong over the allegations.

Even if Ong is able to explain the RM10 million “donation” he will still find it hard to explain the free flights he took on KDSB jets, which are not allowed under the government’s General Orders.

Tee said party leaders were fully behind Ong.
MCA treasurer Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng told reporters today the party had not received any donations from Tiong since he became treasurer last year.

“I have not checked previous records but since taking over there have been no donations from Tiong,” he said, adding he was not sure if donations were received in the past.

He said the MACC had not yet contacted the party over the matter.

Tee, who is also the party’s Federal Territory chairman, said party leaders were fully behind Ong and his decisions on PKFZ.

He said Tiong’s allegations had tarnished the image of the party and its president.

They also supported a move for a police report to be lodged while calling on Tiong to explain and apologise within seven days or face legal action for defamation.

The embattled MCA president refused to take questions from the press after briefing the divisional leaders.

Instead, Ong said he would leave it to his members to tell the press if they were satisfied with his explanation during the closed-door meeting.

“The meeting was very interactive and there were a lot of sharp questions from members,” he said.

The allegations were made after a special task force investigating the PKFZ found that KDSB, the turnkey contractor for the project, had made questionable claims of at least RM500 million. A police report was lodged last week.

Today, MCA secretary -general Datuk Wong Foon Meng claimed the grassroots were fully behind the party president and called on Tiong to prove his allegations.

“The burden is on Tiong to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.”

On the flip side, Wong said the party’s constitution allows for donations to be collected.

It however does not specify the mode of how donations should be collected, he said.

Source : The Malaysian Insider

Technorati Tags: 10 million, bn, donation, Kuala Dimensi, mca, Ong Tee Keat, PKFZ, scandal, Tiong King Sing

PAS has retained the Manek Urai state seat by a wafer-thin margin of 65, or 0.61 per cent of votes cast, despite earlier predictions of a thumping win for the Islamist party.

PAS polled 5,348 against Umno’s 5,283.

Last year the party defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) by 1,352 votes.

The close win showed PAS had just managed to fend off an onslaught from the BN and Umno machinery bent on taking full advantage of schisms in the Islamist party and among its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners.

Commenting on the narrow margin, Datuk Husam Musa accused BN of vote buying during the by-election campaign.

“I am very proud of the Manek Urai voters who have shown their strength in resisting BN’s offers,” he told reporters at the counting centre.

He claimed that money was distributed to the voters on the eve of polling day.

On PAS’s defeat in two polling districts – Manek Urai Baru and Lama – where BN has promised to build a new bridge to replace an old single lane bridge, Husam said: “Now BN has to build the bridge.”

He added that the result would not affect Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s leadership in the state.

PAS candidate Fauzi Abdullah said he would serve all his constituents equally.

Meanwhile Election Commission chief Tan Sri Aziz Yusof said there was no need for a recount despite the small margin.

“There was no recount, it can only be done if the margin is less than four per cent at the polling stream level, not the total,” Aziz told reporters.

He said BN was welcomed to challenge the results.

Tonight’s results will help strengthen Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s position in the Islamist party against rival factions who are keen on working more closely with Umno.

Umno had been hoping for a win today to give BN a boost by winning its first by-election in the peninsula since last year’s general elections.

Bolstered by a recent opinion poll showing an improved approval rating for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Umno had wanted to make the Manek Urai vote a major turning point in its quest to regain lost ground from a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wracked by major infighting.

Tonight’s win for PAS will give PR some breathing space as it attempts to consolidate after a month which saw the alliance partners openly squabbling with each other over various issues.

Source : The Malaysian Insider

Technorati Tags: barisan nasional, kelantan, manek urai, pakatan rakyat, pas, umno

In a move to nip the Kampung Buah Pala issue from brewing further, Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has agreed to meet the residents in two days time.

The meeting came about after the residents, comprising 23 cowherd families in what is dubbed Penang’s High Chapparal, apologised to Guan Eng for misunderstandings in their effort to stop their eviction.

Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairman M. Sugumaran extended the apology to Guan Eng in a brief meeting at the Dewan Sri Pinang.

“On behalf of the residents of Kampung Lorong Buah Pala, I wish to extend our apologies to the Chief Minister for what had transpired in recent times and we hope the Chief Minister will accept our apologies,” Sugumaran said.

The first-term Penang chief minister accepted the apology, telling The Malaysian Insider that he would meet the residents as it is the residents’ right if they want to meet with him, as he is also their state leader.

“What is important now is how we can work together to resolve this whole situation. Sugumaran has agreed to arrange a heart-to-heart talk between us and the affected families this Thursday at 8pm,” he said, adding each family can send a representative for the meeting.

The Kampung Lorong Buah Pala residents are hoping to stay on in the village despite the Federal Court judgment that they have no rights to the land and ordering them to vacate it without getting compensation.

They want the Penang government to solve the issue by acquiring the land, which the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government sold for RM3 million to the state officers’ cooperative.

They claim Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have promised to save the village in last year’s election campaign, attracting the outlawed Hindraf to demand the village be saved or the opposition coalition will lose Indian support and George Town its Unesco’s heritage city status.

Penang has since de-classified the minutes of all state executive council meetings held by the previous state government that are related to the transfer of the land ownership to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang Bhd and developer Nusmetro., which is promoting a RM150 million project on the site.

The residents had wanted to meet Guan Eng previously but he had refused if lawyers or Hindraf leaders joined the delegation.

Source : The Malaysian Insider

Technorati Tags: kampung buah pala, lim guan eng, penang, state government

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor state government is planning to introduce a new tax system which will allow it to have control over taxes.

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim wants to implement a zakat system that is currently practiced by Muslims to the non-Muslims in the state.

“The state and federal government have agreed that the zakat payment can be considered as income tax payment so when they pay RM2,000 to the fund, then they can deduct the same amount from their income tax and the zakat will stay in the state,” he said.

Zakat is a religious tax for charity which is obligatory for Muslims.

Khalid is considering a system where income tax would be deducted straight from the salary and channelled into a trustee fund or a Baitulmal which will be solely used for state development.

He said that those who contribute to the fund will be exempted from paying income tax to the federal government. Khalid also plans to also introduce this scheme to non-Muslims.

“During the glorious age of Islam, non-Muslims during that period could also pay zakat to the baitulmal. The zakat will be collected into one fund and the fund will be used for development,” he added.

Khalid explained that the new system was necessary because the federal government was currently withholding funds from the PR state government.

“This might jeopardize the relationship between the state and federal governments but I would like allocations to be given to the people of Selangor and managed by the state government. The fund however can be audited by the federal government,” he said.

Khalid stressed that the Baitulmal project is still in the discussion stage and he would consult with religious scholars before considering any further action.

Source : The Malaysian Insider

Technorati Tags: income tax, pakatan rakyat, Selangor, state government, zakat

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has lost a final bid to have his sodomy trial held in a lower court, ending a long wrangle over where the case should be heard, his lawyer said Thursday.

The Court of Appeal rejected the application and affirmed an earlier decision that the politically charged case should be heard in the High Court. The trial is due to start July 8.

Amid widespread doubts over the standards of Malaysia’s judiciary, Anwar’s supporters have said they fear authorities will be able to manipulate the case more easily in the High Court.

“The decision is not appealable. I am most disappointed with the decision today,” his lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP.

Anwar, 61, has repeatedly rejected sodomy allegations levelled by a 23-year-old former aide; the same charge that saw him jailed a decade ago, as a government conspiracy to derail his plan to topple the ruling coalition.

Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is illegal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and carries a penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.

Anwar is campaigning to unseat the Barisan Nasional coalition which has ruled Malaysia since 1957, after the opposition deprived the government of its two-thirds majority in an unprecedented performance in the 2008 elections.

The opposition leader is currently out on bail pending his trial but his supporters have expressed fears that it might be revoked during the hearing.

In a recent interview with AFP, Anwar voiced concern that false evidence could be introduced in a bid to jail him and end his political career.

The former deputy prime minister said however that the opposition alliance he leads would survive even if he is convicted and jailed.

Anwar was found guilty of separate sodomy and corruption charges a decade ago in a case widely seen as politically motivated. In 2004 the sodomy conviction was overturned, allowing him to go free after six years in jail.

Source : AFP

Technorati Tags: anwar ibrahim, court of appeal, high court, sessions court, trial

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has asked a Malaysian court to throw out a sodomy charge against him, two weeks before the start of a trial that he maintains is politically motivated, his lawyer said Thursday.

The government has repeatedly denied Anwar’s claim that the charge was orchestrated to block him from leading a three-party opposition alliance that severely eroded the ruling coalition’s parliamentary majority in the March 2008 election.

Anwar submitted a petition to the High Court on Wednesday that said the case was a conspiracy concocted by his foes in the government, his lawyer Sankara Nair said in a statement.

In his application, Anwar asserted that a medical report dated July 13 last year by a government hospital found no evidence of anal penetration on his accuser.

The charge “is a travesty, a complete farce and has absolutely no basis whatsoever, as there is no case against our client,” Nair said.

The High Court has set June 26 to hear Anwar’s petition, he said.

Anwar, 61, was charged last August with allegedly sodomizing a 23-year-old male former aide. The trial is due to begin July 1. Anwar faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sodomy, a crime in this Muslim-majority country.

Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, spent six years in prison after being convicted of corruption and an earlier sodomy charge, following his ouster from the Cabinet in 1998. He maintained his innocence all along and was freed in 2004 when Malaysia’s top court overturned the sodomy conviction.

Anwar revived his political career in last year’s elections when his alliance won more than one-third of the seats in Parliament amid public disenchantment with the National Front governing coalition, which has been in power since 1957.

If the High Court refuses to throw out the charge and the trial does take place, Anwar wants a postponement because his lawyers have not received key documents from the prosecution, Nair said.

The top government prosecutor for the case could not immediately be contacted, and a colleague declined to comment on Anwar’s move.

Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the man who accused Anwar of sodomizing him, wrote on a blog Thursday that “if it is fated for this case to be dropped in a court of this world, it is all right.”

“I accept it because Allah’s court will judge this matter” in the afterlife, he wrote.

Source : Associated Press

Technorati Tags: anwar ibrahim, charged, court, evidence, hospital, saiful bukhari, sodomy

Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday he is confident a court will find no evidence of sodomy when his case, which has inflamed political passions in Malaysia, resumes in July. Anwar, who spent six years in jail on a 1998 sodomy conviction that was ultimately overturned, faces a 20-year sentence if convicted on the new charge. Homosexuality is outlawed in Malaysia.

That would effectively end his political career which has seen him come close to mounting a challenge to the National Front government that has ruled Malaysia for the 51 years since independence from Britain.

Political tensions in Malaysia have been stoked by arrests of opposition supporters and when Anwar was tried in the late 1990s, tens of thousands of people took to the streets. “We’ve seen the conduct of the judiciary in the past, in the recent past as reasons to worry about that,” Anwar told a luncheon of foreign correspondents in Singapore, in reply to a question about the possibility of mass protests at his trial.

His sodomy trial was transferred to the High Court in March, a move his lawyers have said could prejudice the 62-year old’s chances of a fair hearing, because the Attorney General trying the case was investigated for allegedly tampering with evidence in Anwar’s cases 10 years ago.

Anwar was arrested in July of last year for “sexual assault on a young male aide. It made little difference to his political popularity, because weeks later he won a by-election and returned in triumph to parliament as opposition leader after a decade’s absence.

“We have all the medical records, the private doctors, the government doctors. Absolutely, there’s no possibility of a penetration. Then how do you explain sodomy happening without penetration?” Anwar said.

“I don’t think they can fool the Malaysian or international community by fabrication. We will fight at this case. Clearly this is a malicious prosecution or persecution.”

The People’s Alliance grouping that Anwar now heads deprived the government of its two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections in March 2008 and ended up controlling five of Malaysia’s 13 state legislatures, the best-ever result for the opposition.

The strong performance forced the then-Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step aside early and be replaced by his deputy, Najib Razak, the son of Malaysia’s third prime minister.

Anwar joked with reporters about all the mudslinging in Malaysia politics.

“Must I be angry? No, I will go through the process. They alleged me with man, woman, and they haven’t gone to cows yet, so I’m still OK,” Anwar joked about the sodomy case.

Source : Reuters (By Harry Suhartono and Christina Pantin; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Technorati Tags: anwar ibrahim, high court, Politics, sodomy

Police raided a Malaysian opposition party’s headquarters to search for seditious material, sparking accusations Sunday of a crackdown on political dissent.

The hour long search late Saturday marked the first time police had raided the Democratic Action Party‘s main office in its 42-year history, said the party’s parliamentary chief, Lim Kit Siang. Plainclothes policemen entered the office without a search warrant and seized a computer and DVDs, he said.

The move comes amid an increasingly acrimonious battle for control of northern Perak state, which the ruling National Front coalition wrested from a three-party opposition alliance in February. The struggle has turned into an emotional fight between opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is struggling to revive the National Front’s slumping popularity.

District police chief Abdul Jalil Hasan told the national Bernama news agency that the confiscated computer was believed to have been used to publish seditious pamphlets handed out during opposition demonstrations against the ruling coalition’s takeover of Perak.

Anwar called the raid “an insult to the Constitution and the rule of law.”

Teresa Kok, another opposition official, said it was a “scare tactic” to deter opposition demonstrations. Police have arrested dozens of people who took part in such protests in recent weeks, though most were eventually freed without any immediate charges.

The ruling coalition took over Perak after three state legislators left Anwar’s alliance, causing it to lose the majority in the state legislature that it obtained in elections last year. It raised allegations that the National Front had orchestrated the defections through underhanded means.

On Friday, the Court of Appeals struck down an earlier ruling that declared the National Front’s takeover of Perak unconstitutional.

The opposition weakened the National Front’s majority in Parliament and won five of Malaysia’s 13 states, including Perak, during last year’s elections amid mounting public complaints over how the government was tackling problems such as corruption, racial tensions and economic worries.

Source : Associated Press

Technorati Tags: dap, democratic action party, perak, police, raid