Umno vice-president and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will respond to allegations made by businessperson Deepak Jaikishan on PM Najib Abdul Razak’s family tomorrow.

"Tomorrow I will respond in my winding-up speech (at the Umno general assembly)," Zahid told Malaysiakini when asked.

NONE He was asked for the Defence Ministry's response to Deepak's allegations that he had paid Najib's family an undisclosed sum for the premier's intervention to allow him to come in as a party in a ministry project.

According to Deepak, he stitched a deal with a Selangor Umno leader's company, in which he would participate as a third party in a proposed defence project.

However, Deepak claimed, the politician did not have the credit-worthiness at that time to secure a land bond for RM72.5 million necessary for the project and thus approached him for help.

The deal would require Deepak to secure the land bond and top it up with RM23 million in cash payments to the company.

In return, Deepak said, the politician's company was to give him ownership of the said property, which is a piece of prime land adjacent to the now booming Setia Alam township.

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