The RM2.6 billion donation deposited into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal account is “not a big sum” to face one general election, said newly-appointed Umno information chief Annuar Musa today.

In an interview with The Star , Annuar pointed out that there are currently no rules or benchmarks that govern the funding for political parties.

“It is very simple. You must have rules in place. That is the benchmark for the do’s and the don’ts. It is the law that decides.

“If you don’t have a law, then where is the benchmark? RM2.6 billion to face one general election is not big!” the Ketereh MP reportedly commented when asked to justify Najib, as Umno president, having unilaterally received the donation without the knowledge of other party leaders, including Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin.

Annuar also claimed that the opposition coalition had their own way to similarly obtain “vast amount of funds”, prior to the 13th general election in 2013.

“I do not want to say from where, but we know some of those parties and people as well as the source of funding for the opposition, but it is not important for me to talk about how and where they get their money.

“What I am trying to say is that let’s have a law where you set a very clear benchmark of the do’s and the don’ts. There are things which I cannot explain to you in this interview with regard to what we were facing during the past few general elections.

“Some of the questions I am not prepared to share with you,” Annuar was quoted as saying.

Asked on whether it was ethical for Najib to have personally received the donation, Annuar insisted that ethics is based on rules.

“It is very unethical for the PM, for the (Umno) president if the party doesn’t have enough money to face the general election. It’s as simple as that!

“You must have enough money. Within the Umno system, the funding comes only from the president. We never question.

“The party machinery and everyone will ask money from the party president, whoever the party president is,” he said, adding that the issue of funding is something which the party must refrain from discussing in public.

“I can say something about how (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) handled elections. I saw some of the things with my own eyes. But if we continue to discuss this, we fall into the trap of the opposition (so I won’t),” he emphasised.

While there is currently no law in Malaysia that regulates political funding for parties, Section 19(1A) of the Election Offences Act states that each candidate is only allowed to spend a maximum of RM200,000 for one parliamentary seat and RM100,000 for one state seat.

BN had fielded 220 parliamentary candidates and 505 state assembly candidates during the GE13.

Going by the limit imposed under the Act, the total amount that can be spent by all BN candidates is only approximately RM94.5 million.