Barisan Nasional's Permatang Pauh candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah today distanced himself from a RM24.3 billion controversial defence deal linked to his elder brother.

arif shah omar shah bn candidate permatang pauh 180808 "I have no comment because I am not involved in their business," he told reporters at the Umno Permatang Pauh division office today. He was earlier asked to comment on a widely-circulating SMS campaign that linked his name to the controversial deal.

The SMS, which was in Mandarin, has called on the voters to reject the BN candidate as he was the younger brother to Amin Shah, an Umno associate and chairperson of PSC Industries Bhd.

The SMS further claimed that Amin Shah has used up RM24.3 billion of taxpayers money in his failed venture to build vessels for the army. He has since been declared a bankrupt late last year.

In 1998, PSC-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd - a subsidiary of PSC Industries - was awarded with the lucrative contract to build 27 heavily-armed offshore patrol vessel (OPV) over a 10-year period.

However, the delivery of the vessels were repeatedly delayed and has since incurred billions of additional cost. The matter was investigated and came under severe criticism in the Auditor-General's 2006 annual report.

Elaborating on the SMS campaign against him, Arif Shah said he has no direct involvement in any of his family members' businesses and has never sat on any of their board as a director.

The only exception, he said, was that he was made a director under certain circumstances in order for him to receive some allowances to fund his political activities.

‘ Brother's ties with Najib'

To another question, Arif Shah denied he was chosen as the candidate due to his brother Amin Shah's close ties with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also Umno deputy president.

"Most of the corporate (figures) in Malaysia are somehow having a good relationship with the leadership of the day. Maybe at the time, he (Amin Shah) has to kowtow (to certain leader) and thus having a good relationship (with the leaders)," he said.

permatang pauh by election arif shah umno 180808 "I have nothing to do with it and I can't comment much because I don't know anything about their (sibling's) business," he added when asked again.

He argued the SMS campaign was a mere campaign to attack him using his brother's connection. He nevertheless said he was ready to explain the matter further in a press conference soon.

Arif Shah, who is the Seberang Jaya state assemblyperson, was unexpectedly named as the BN's candidate to take on PKR's Anwar Ibrahim in the Aug 26 by-election.

This was because it was a rare practice for BN to name a standing elected representative to contest another seat for parliament or state constituency in a by-election.

A number of other leaders have been speculated to be the potential candidate prior to that, including the Umno division's choice - it's chief Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid.