BANGI: Only 11 out of 41 bank accounts that were frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are used by Aman Palestin for donation purposes.
Its lawyer, Mohd Rafique Rashid Ali said that the remainder of the bank accounts belonged to Aman Palestin's strategic partners, board of directors and staff.
According to him, the MACC's statement, which failed to specify which 41 accounts were suspended, constitutes a malicious slander intended to tarnish the organisation's reputation.
"This has halted the donation of around RM10 million that was supposed to be given as aid to Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen as they prepare to brave the winter.
He also clarified that gold bullions that were seized by the graftbusters were not a product of the misappropriation of the funds given by the public.
"The allegations are malicious and completely untrue. There are 16 powers given to members of the board of directors of Aman Palestine and the power to invest is in various mechanisms.
"It is not wrong, and after all the gold is valuable and easy to convert into cash before sending to those in need.
"The allegation is wrong, without integrity and has malicious intent," he said at a press conference here today.
Mohd Rafique noted that Aman Palestin would conduct audits every year, with the most recent one taking place in 2021.
In fact, he said, the audit document is available to the public via the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) website.
"The MACC must answer for this. Why would they freeze the funds a day after Aman Palestin had announced the donation campaign for winter and during the 'humanitarian pause' that is happening in Palestine right now?"
Yesterday, the MACC was scheduled to question Aman Palestin's chief executive officer over the alleged misappropriation of funds within the organisation.
It was previously reported that the graftbusters was in the process of identifying assets of the Aman Palestin organisation believed to have been obtained through the misappropriation of RM70 million in public funds.
Earlier, they had also confirmed the freezing of 41 bank accounts of the organisation, amounting to RM15,868,762.
The freezing was carried out after the MACC investigated allegations of Aman Palestin misusing public donations.