Umno bigwigs probed for money politics

Umno disciplinary committee member Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas today revealed that several party leaders are being investigated for money politics in the run up to the Umno general assembly last week.

According to Bernama , he said the probe was carried out by officers of the committee's investigation unit.

"I don't have the details but I was made to understand that there are indeed investigations being carried out on a number of cases, including top posts," he said.

However, there was no mention of whether these included leaders who had won posts in the elections, and if so, would they be stripped of their victories if found guilty.

Megat Najmuddin said he was not directly involved in the investigation because committee members cannot be the investigators, prosecutors and jurists at the same time.

He said action would be taken on anyone found to have breached party discipline.

"If we have proof we will call them to testify but we need strong evidence otherwise it will be difficult for us to act," he said.

He also said that there was nothing wrong with treating a person to a meal or paying for someone's fuel as long as there was no ulterior motives in doing so.

"The amount of bribe is not important. The measure of culpability lies in the intention. If you give RM50 to buy votes, it is political corruption or money politics," he said.

Prior to the elections, the committee acted against several leaders, including barring a few from contesting. The biggest casualty being Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam who was vying for deputy presidency.

Another big name was newly minted Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who was let off with a stern warning.

Restructuring disciplinary committee

Meanwhile, Megat Najmuddin also welcomed newly elected Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin's proposal to restructure the disciplinary committee to strengthen it further.

"This is a good suggestion as we don't have enough manpower. Umno is a big party with over three million members, so we need to increase our capacity accordingly," he said.

Megat Najmuddin also said it was important that the committee was free of interference from party leaders.

"We have retired from politics and we have no more interest in it. At a meeting with the powers-that-be in the party, we told them that if you interfere, we will resign en-bloc," he said.

Describing political corruption as "the mother of all corruptions", Megat Najmuddin said the people could still take comfort from the fact that corruption at the moment was "only a fact of life and not a way of life."