‘Be fair, don’t link Umno to 1MDB’

Mohamad: Party has nothing to do with fund

PETALING JAYA: It is unfair to link Umno to 1MDB and drag it through the mud. The party, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, has nothing to do with the tainted sovereign fund.

In a statement issued here, the Umno deputy president said party members should stay united as there would be continuous attempts to taint Umno and its former president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Najib is currently facing major charges pertaining to 1MDB in court.

Mohamad said recent statements by former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim and former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang showed that the scandal was far from withering anytime soon.

“The US Department of Justice (DOJ) too have started taking action against main suspects involved in 1MDB.

“Umno will continually be dragged into the scandal, directly or indirectly. I ask that every- one be mature enough and be just towards Umno.

“Umno as a party is not guilty and has nothing to do with the 1MDB operations and transactions. It is unfair to blame Umno for something it does not know about and that it has not done.

“Umno and I sympathise with Najib and we leave it to the authorities to manage and judge it according to the constitution,” added Mohamad.

On Thursday, the DOJ indicted the main suspect in 1MDB – Low Taek Jho – along with former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner on criminal charges related to the scandal.

Mohamad said Umno had a bigger agenda and that as long as the 1MDB scandal was connected to it, Umno would have difficulty rising again.

“Be fair to Umno, for punishing it over what it has no knowledge of will not be in favour of the Malays,” said Mohamad.

The current Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also facing corruption charges in court.