PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali has denied claims that the party had paid a blogger millions of ringgit to tarnish the image of former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

 

NONE “I have checked with PAS Kelantan, and there is no record of RM4 million being used to pay Syed Azidi (Syed Abdul Aziz)," he told a press conference at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Mustafa said PAS hopes that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would perform a thorough probe into the matter.

Syed Azidi ( below ), formerly  a corporate liaison officer with the Kelantan government-owned company PMBK, has claimed he received the RM4 million over a period of three years to carry out a psy-war against Abdullah and Umno so as to enable PAS Kelantan to remain in power.

syed azidi syed abdul aziz kickdefella police pc 171008 03 Among the companies through which the payments were made was Global Media Channel (GMC) - once helmed by Syed Azidi's wife and a number of Kelantan PAS leaders - the blogger alleged.

When queried about this, however, Mustafa said he had no knowledge even of its existence.

 

“I only got to know (of) this company through the newspaper reports,” he said.

He denied any knowledge also of whether other PAS leaders owned or had links to the company.

 

"If even I don't know about GMC, what more the others (senior PAS leaders)," he quipped.

 

Mustafa insisted that PAS’ struggle went beyond smearing the character of individual politicians.

Last day of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib Abdul Razak takes over as prime minister in Putrajaya “It is not PAS' agenda to topple an individual. So what if Pak Lah is toppled?” asked Mustafa, referring to Abdullah ( right ).

“(Current premier) Najib (Abdul Razak) is here (now)... It will still (be) the same," he said of PAS’ ideological differences with BN.

Mustafa noted also that Abdullah’s downfall was due mainly to opposition within his own party Umno.

PAS, meanwhile, would stick to democratic means of toppling the BN-led federal government, he said further.

 

"Of course we want to takeover the central government from BN. But we will do it democratically through elections," he added.

 

‘No integrity’

 

Turning his sights on Syed Azidi, Mustafa accused the blogger of Kickdefella fame of being unscrupulous and of using his skills to casting aspersions on public figures.

"Not only does he have no integrity. He is also a political mercenary," he claimed.

“Because someone paid him RM 4 million to topple Pak Lah, he did it for the money. Hence, his revelation now could be because someone else paid him to do so again," he said.

When contacted, Syed Azidi reiterated the truth of his claims and denied he was under anybody’s pay currently to launch attacks against PAS and its leaders.

“If he has evidence that I am being paid to do this, then he should prove it and bring it to MACC,” said Syed Azidi, adding that it was inappropriate for a leader of an Islamist party to make such claims without concrete proof.

"If there is no record from Kelantan PAS (of the payment), then PAS should explain this: where did the money come from?" he asked.

On Mustafa’s claim that he did not know about GMC until news reports about it came to his attention, Syed Azidi suggested that the former speak to another party leader who he claimed was in the know about the issue.

“Mustafa should ask Nasharudin Mat Isa,” said Syed Azidi, referring to the PAS deputy-president.

Nasharudin could not be reached for a response.

Five involved

Syed Azidi alleged that five people were involved in giving him the RM4 million.

A Kota Bharu city councillor purportedly contributed a total of RM2.66 million since May 2007. The money went to buy the building for the operation of GMC in the state capital, pay off GMC's debt, and some went directly to Syed Azidi in cash.

He alleged the second person is a senior journalist who had paid a sum of RM350,000 in stages for the purchase of equipment for the operation of GMC.

A Kelantan state exco member is also implicated and Syed Azidi claimed that he was paid RM40,000 in cash also for the setting up of GMC.

The fourth person, a former PAS state assemblyperson paid a total of RM1.28 million for the renovation and purchase of furniture and various equipment for the operation of the company.

The final person alleged to have paid off Syed is also a state assemblyperson and he was alleged to have made a cash payment to Syed Azidi in Kota Bahru.