KUALA LUMPUR: An Umno leader has told Perikatan Nasional (PN) deputy chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu to mind his own business for suggesting that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi be relieved of his duties pending his court case.
Umno information chief Isham Jalil said the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) deputy president should instead focus his attention on issues facing his party and its leaders.
"Faizal Azumu, I suggest that you mind your own business with respect to the post of deputy prime minister.
"It is the right and discretion of the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) on the appointment of the position, not you or Bersatu.
"I suggest that you or your fellow party members make preparations to face the courts and become Court Cluster 2.0 over vote-buying and misappropriation of government fund allegations," Isham wrote in a posting on his Facebook today.
Faizal, in a statement yesterday, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should insist that Zahid goes on leave to focus on his trial involving 47 corruption charges he was facing and prove his innocence.
The former Tambun member of parliament said this was also to ensure that the trial of the Yayasan Akalbudi case is completed without delay or interference.
This, he said following an application filed by Zahid to the court for his passport to be returned, even though the document had previously been surrendered as part of his bail conditions for his ongoing corruption, breach of trust and money laundering trial.
Isham claimed that many Bersatu leaders had previously escaped prosecution when they switched political parties to form the federal government under the previous leadership.
"All of the actions commited by your leaders previously will not escape the legal process. Do you think you or your fellow party leaders could escape action this time around by diverting attention to issues faced by other people and declare the alleged corruption as sedekah (charity)?" he said, referring to the allegation that cash was handed out to voters in the run-up to the 15th General Election (GE15).
"The people will never forget about these cases.
"Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat akhirnya jatuh ke tanah juga. You should focus on the critical issues faced by your party," he said.