KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (Bersatu) accounts have been frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Perak Bersatu secretary Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin confirmed this when contacted by the New Straits Times today.
Zainol Fadzi, who is also Sungai Manik assemblyman, said he was informed of the matter in the party's supreme leadership council (MPT) on Jan 19.
"It is indeed affecting us at the state level because the monthly assistance to the management of the division could not be distributed as usual, every month," he said.
Asked how long the account would be frozen, Zainol said that it would usually take about 90 days.
"We were informed by the MACC that it usually takes about 90 days but this can be extended if they can't wrap up investigations," he said.
Asked if this would affect the state polls in Kelantan, Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Kedah, he briefly said: "That is their hidden strategy."
It is learnt that the accounts were frozen in connection to a probe into the alleged misappropriation of billions of ringgit meant for Covid-19 stimulus packages.
Meanwhile, an attempt to get Bersatu deputy-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu to comment on this issue proved futile.
Former prime minister and PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last year said that not even one sen of the more than RM500 billion in stimulus and aid measures his government spent during the Covid-19 pandemic was misused.
The allegation of misuse of public funds was raised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Dec 6, when he said the Finance Ministry, which he also helms, had found a breach of procedure in the handling of RM600 billion public funds during Muhyiddin's tenure as prime minister, but did not give any breakdown of what the figure involved.
The NST has learnt that the graft busting agency would be issuing a statement on the matter soon.