GEORGE TOWN: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong to check the source of the RM16.8 million provided by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to MCA for the 13th General Election.
The DAP secretary-general said if the money did originate from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) sovereign fund, then it should be returned back.
Lim said Wee could not plead ignorance, especially now, that he is the MCA president.
“As the president, shouldn’t you check the origin of the money? It is your responsibility. How can you just handle it like that?
“Don’t pretend, don’t lie. If the money is from 1MDB, then return back the money,” he said in a press conference here today.
Wee, in a report published by an English daily , said that as far as he was concerned, when the day he became the MCA deputy president on Dec 21, 2014, there was not a single sen received (by MCA from 1MDB).
The Ayer Hitam member of Parliament said that what he was also not privy to such information before that date.
Former MCA president Tan Sri Chua Soi Lek had recently said that Najib had given RM16.8 million to MCA for the 13th General Election but he was unaware of its origin.
Lim then cited the previous Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund, which he claimed the previous Barisan Nasional administration had failed to refund to the relevant parties, even after two years.
“When we Pakatan Harapan came into power in May 9 this year, we had settled that. We did not say that it was not our doing, thus washed our hands off it. As the Federal Government, it is our responsibility now to tax payers.
“Similarly, as the president of MCA, shouldn’t he (Wee) investigate the source of the money, especially since it is linked to one of the world’s biggest corruption scandal. He should investigate whether MCA did receive money from 1MDB.
“Failing to do so, it shows he is irresponsible. It also shows that MCA and Barisan Nasional have not learnt their lesson from their ouster from power on May 9. It just goes to show they are still in support of the corrupt culture,” he added.
Lim also did not mince his words when he said that the English daily which featured two full pages of the interview with Wee was indeed owned by the political party.
“What do you expect when they ran two pages of the interview? And yet you want to say the paper is not MCA owned?
“They did not even publish what I had said (on Saturday - that newspapers should be free from political parties),” he added.
He again reiterated the need for all media to be free from any political ownership.
“Freedom of the press should not have whatsoever political involvement,” he stressed.