I won because of trust — Shafie

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said that he had won his seat due to people’s favour, not because he was “rich”.

The Semporna member of parliament said winning posts was not about who has the most money and Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s accusation was an attempt to “get attention from his boss”.

“I have stood in many elections. How many have I stood for now? There was never any 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) money before. I didn’t win because of money, it’s because I gained the trust of the people in my area. It is not an indication of whether you are rich or not. I’m not as rich as he is.

“Don’t tell me all the poor guys who have won under BN (Barisan Nasional) have had ample amounts of money,” said the former Umno leader after attending a charity fund-raising dinner here on Wednesday night.

Shafie retained his seat in the 2013 elections with an 84 per cent majority when he contested under Umno then.

He cited the case of the 1985 Sabah elections when a relatively unknown former information officer, Datuk Kadoh Agundong, toppled the the Berjaya chief minister Datuk Harris Salleh in the Tenom state constituency as an example.

On Sunday, Nazri admitted to the Umno Overseas Alumni Club members in Kuala Lumpur that he had received funds from a controversial RM2.6 billion donation received by the prime minister for their party to use during the general election.

However, the Padang Rengas MP and Umno supreme council member claimed both Shafie, and former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin received a bigger share of the money.

Shafie has since denied this and said he had been very vocal about the beleaguered 1MDB to Nazri’s approval, something he would not have done had he been a major benefactor from the illegal funds.

“I don’t know whether he is trying to get attention from his boss but for him to claim that we have received money from 1MDB… as far as I know I have not received it. They might have sent it to someone else but definitely not me,” he said.

Shafie said that his division received a “normal amount” of about RM100,000 to RM200,000 for the general elections, which goes on the record and was allocated by the division heads.

“That’s the only time. That money goes to the committee. But I do not want to prolong this argument with Nazri. I leave the matter to Allah to judge, what is the truth,” he said.

Muhyiddin has also denied being the beneficiary of the controversial RM2.6 billion donation received by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“I read a statement saying that among those who received the most from the RM2.6 billion were me and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

“These are all allegations! None of the money went into my pocket,” the current Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president said.

Shafie and Muhyiddin were dropped from the federal Cabinet last year, ostensibly for their criticism of how the 1MDB matter was being handled and of the RM2.6 billion deposited into the prime minister’s personal accounts.

However, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has since said the money was a political donation and cleared Najib of any wrongdoing.