KUALA LUMPUR: Bersatu leaders have refuted claims that a Perikatan Nasional leader is trying to bribe government members of parliament to withdraw support from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said the claims made against a PN leader who allegedly provided RM1 billion in an attempt to bribe MPs to overthrow the unity government is nonsense.
"Absurd! Slanderous!," he briefly replied when contacted by the New Straits Times.
When asked whether the allegations made were a tactic to tarnish PN's image, he said: "Yes."
Wan Fayhsal, who is Machang MP, added that a statement will be issued soon to address the matter.
Meanwhile, Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu laughed off the allegations implying that it is impossible as the party's accounts were seized and frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for investigations purposes.
"My comments are 'lol' (laugh out loud). We can barely pay our staff and office expenses!"
Earlier, it was reported that Anwar's political secretary Datuk Azman Abidin called for an investigation into an allegation that a PN leader was involved in trying to offer bribes to influential figures and MPs to topple the unity government.
The claims, which were posted on a blog, said the PN leader, who is an MP, has set aside some RM1 billion in funds to bribe government MPs into retracting support for the prime minister.
"We hope the police can investigate if this is true," Azman told a news portal.
"People are sick (of all this speculation of moves to topple the government). The government is working hard to spur economic recovery."
In December last year, rumours began about the so-called "Dubai Move", an alleged meeting that took place to discuss and assign specific tasks to "agents" responsible for identifying MPs who might switch support to the opposition through inducements, solely to establish a 'tebuk atap (backdoor)' government.
Revealing the attempt, Community Communications Department (J-Kom) deputy director (community communications) Datuk Ismail Yusop claimed that the Dubai Move surfaced during the recent vacation of leaders from PN and several government officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).