PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has been urged to clarify a report by a US government watchdog that he had misled the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during his tenure as chairperson for the Foundation for the Future (FFF).

Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin said that the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblowers protection organisation, had claimed that FFF’s management had misled the IRS by claiming in its 2006-2007 financial statement that it did not influence the US Congress.

anwar khairy 150807 In contrast, GAP’s recent report on allegedly irregularities in FFF’s funding process claims that US State Department documents showed that FFF had actively lobbied the US Congress for government funding.

At a press conference at the Parliament lobby, Khairy said Anwar, representing FFF, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state department regarding the government funding.

"In these MoUs, Anwar (as the) chairperson and acting president of FFF had agreed to receive commitments from sources other than the US to match the funds already provided," he said.

This, argued Khairy, conflicted with Anwar’s statement on May 20, 2007 that the US government “did not grant any funds to the foundation”.

According to the statement, Anwar said that FFF received funds from Turkey, United Kingdom and Jordan among others.

Anwar took up the post in 2006 and relinquished it in 2008 after he was elected Permatang Pauh MP.

FFF received US$21.3 million in public funds

According to Khairy, the GAP report revealed that FFF had received US$21.3 million in public funds and he believed that the funds would also "match contributions from other governments."

The FFF was set up to to promote democracy, transparency and popular political participation on a multilateral basis in the Middle East.

"The report by GAP is based on 267 documents extracted by the US Department of State over a period of 33 months and they concluded that FFF has misled and provided wrong information to the US Congress on the funding from other countries because one of the conditions imposed by the Congress is that this foundation gets a matching grant.

"Meaning for every dollar that the American government gives to Congress, they need to get matching grants from other countries, but in the foundation report (it) shows that less than US$6.4 million was given by other governments as promised by Anwar," said Khairy.

ummo youth pc 100306 abdul rahman dahlan “This is the deal with the US government. Anwar as chairman was supposed to get grants from other countries like Qatar and other Middle East countries but there was none received.”

He contended that it was a "serious matter" that Anwar has tried to mislead the US government to get grants for a foundation.

Shadow cabinet

Kota Belud BN MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan ( right ) added that if the opposition leader has dreams of becoming the future prime minister he has to be "clear" on the issues.

"That is why they (Pakatan Rakyat) must form a shadow cabinet. We want to know what is their economy, social and foreign policies (but) they are unable to do this.

"The problem with this is, as a person who wants to be the prime minister, he must be firm on his opinion and cannot shift according to the situation," he said.

Abdul Rahman opined that it was also "improper" for a prime minister wannabe "to be associated with something that advances foreign interests".