The Umno elections may be over, but the party's disciplinary committee will continue to investigate all allegations of money politics, said secretary-general Razi Sheikh Ahmad.

He said investigations could be widened against those involved if more witnesses come forward with concrete evidence on cases reported to the committee.

"The mechanism to combat money politics is in place....it is only that people are not coming forward. If more come forward with information, we can take action," he told reporters after officiating at the Second Anti-Corruption Agency forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

According to Bernama , Radzi, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said the action would be of an internal nature since it only involves party members.

Allegations of money politics peaked during the final days of campaigning for the vice-presidents' posts and supreme council seats after party leaders allowed candidates to meet delegates as well as hold functions for them.

Prior to that, candidates had been banned from any form of campaigning in order to prevent situations where vote-buying could occur.

Umno headquarters had also appointed undercover agents to detect involvement in money politics by candidates or their supporters, with reports to be made to the disciplinary committee.

New guidelines?

Bernama quoted Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak as saying that changes to the guidelines governing money politics and abuse of power could only be implemented during the next party polls.

Any wrongdoing during the last party polls must be governed by existing rules, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Najib, who chairs the Umno management committee, was commenting on a proposal yesterday by disciplinary committee chairperson Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail.

Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen had said Umno should form a team of prosecutors to help the committee curb money politics because the complaints received to date are incomplete.

"He feels that the proof tendered was too general in nature and is not enough to find those accused of money politics and abuse of power guilty," Najib said.

"This has made the disciplinary committee's task more difficult and has resulted in it being accused of being ineffective. Actually, clear and irrefutable evidence is required."

Najib said the party is willing to study any proposal in order to ensure the effectiveness of efforts to combat money politics and abuse of power. However, all proposals will have to be referred to the supreme council first.

To date, the board has found more than 22 Umno leaders and members guilty of involvement in money politics and of breaching party polls guidelines.