KUALA LUMPUR: Umno information chief Isham Jalil slammed Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang's for saying that cash given out in Terengganu days before the 15th General Election was charitable act.
He said Hadi's description of them as 'charitable act' was baseless as such acts constituted a bribe.
"Giving money to voters during the election period and asking them to vote for Pas is not charity but can be considered as vote-buying or bribery," he said in a Facebook post.
Earlier, Hadi was reported as saying that those caught on video handing out money to voters were ordinary people giving out charity.
He said there was nothing wrong with such act and no electoral laws had been broken.
The Marang MP added that according to electoral laws, only candidates and their agents were not allowed to give any form of handouts.
Meanwhile, Isham reminded Hadi not to come up with reasons simply to justify bribing voters.
"If politicians are allowed to bribe voters in the name of charity, where is our political system headed to? he asked.
Pas has previously come under fire after video clips of alleged party leaders handing out cash to voters went viral.
Several police reports over such videos have been lodged and various party leaders have since come up with explanations of what happened.