SUPP not telling truth about 1MDB funding, alleges Chong

KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen says SUPP Youth chief Tan Kai has failed to tell Sarawakians whether the party did receive the two cheques that were purportedly issued by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to SUPP in 2012 and 2013.

Chong’s question ‘ Did SUPP receive the fund (of RM1 million) from Najib?’ remained despite the so-called responses from Tan at a press conference yesterday or SUPP former president Tan Sri Peter Chin and current president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian in May last year.

“Peter Chin’s statement did not refute the allegation that SUPP received the RM1 million from 1MDB. Neither did Tan Kai’s socalled response.

“If it (SUPP) did not receive it ( RM1 million), what makes it so difficult to say that it did not receive it?” asked Chong yesterday when prompted for comments on Tan’s statements.

During a news conference at the SUPP headquarters, Tan accused Chong of diverting the people’s attention by stirring up an old issue.

Tan said Chin had responded on May 5 last year that the images of cheques dated Feb 9, 2012 and April 5, 2013, which were released during the state election last year were aimed at tarnishing the image of SUPP and its candidates.

Chin was quoted as saying: “... (it’s) an effort to cast aspersions on the SUPP leadership then and now in the hope of misleading voters on current issues that are important to the people of Sarawak.”

Chong, who is Kota Sentosa assemblyman and also state DAP chairman, believed that SUPP had received the fund from Najib as this could be reflected in SUPP’s continued support for the prime minister.

“Obviously, SUPP received 1MDB money from Najib and that’s why SUPP continues to support Najib. In a nutshell, SUPP has been ‘bought’ by Najib with 1MDB fund,” he alleged.

On Dr Sim’s response to the same issue in May last year, he said: “Dr Sim’s response was also a nonresponse, pushing the responsibility to past president Peter Chin.”

“Don’t tell me as the present president, you can’t check past bank statements of the party to see whether there was such a deposit or not,” pointed out the DAP lawmaker.

In May last year, Dr Sim said via his official Facebook page that he had never seen the two cheques purportedly issued to the party.

TheMinisterofLocalGovernment and Housing said SUPP’s finances were handled by the president, which at the time was held by Chin. Dr Sim was the party’s secretarygeneral at the time and elected as the president only in August 2014.

Chong said SUPP ought to emulate the high standard of integrity and decency shown by world-renowned celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr, who had recently handed over gifts purchased with 1MDB fund to US Department of Justice.

“Now that celebrities worldwide have made it clear that it is immoral to keep the money (gifts), given the numerous evidence unravelled in respect of the fund, it is pertinent that SUPP, as a political party, return the money to save its integrity, if it ever had one,” added Chong.

On Thursday, Chong called upon SUPP to return the RM1 million the party received in 2012 and 2013 to uphold integrity.

On Tuesday, Reuters quoted Australian model and actress Miranda Kerr’s spokesperson as saying that the celebrity had handed over millions of dollars worth of jewellery that US authorities said was given to her as part of a Malaysian money laundering scheme.

Reuters also reported that actor Leonardo DiCaprio was tied up in the scandal after accepting artwork by Picasso and Basquiat worth more than US$12 million from financiers connected with the 1MDB case, along with an Oscar once owned by actor Marlon Brando.

DiCaprio’s spokesperson was quoted as saying that the actor was co-operating with authorities and had initiated the return of the items.