Newly-appointed Umno information chief Annuar Musa today refused questions on his reported remark that RM2.6 billion is "not a big sum" to fund one general election.

Met by reporters at the Universiti Kuala Lumpur campus today, he rushed off when asked for clarification on his statement, as reported by The Star yesterday.

"Just read the interview," Annuar said curtly upon hearing the RM2.6 billion figure.

In the interview, he defended Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak against criticisms over the RM2.6 billion donation deposited into his personal accounts to fund BN's 13th general election campaign.

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

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

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

Will never let Mara struggle

Earlier, Annuar, who is also Mara chairperson, addressed news reports that highlighted plights of students who were forced to quit their studies after alleged delays in approvals of their Mara loans.

"I would like to stress that the government will never let Mara struggle (to give out loans). I have personally guaranteed the loans (for students who dropped out) and it (the loans) have been approved.

"That is what we are here for and that is what the people voted us for. We will honour that to our last breath," said Annuar, who then presented 1,940 approval letters for Mara loan applications made by students from UniKL, Mara polytechnic colleges and the German-Malaysian Institute in the July, August and September intakes last year.

In total, he said the approved loans under three schemes for 10,583 students amounted to approximately RM238 million.

Aside from the approval letters issued today, Annuar said the remaining letters for students who had applied for loans last year will be issued by the end of this month.

"The application and approval process for students in the January 2016 intake will be completed by March," he added.

Students whose household income falls below RM8,000 are entitled to a full loan for tuition fees and allowance while those with household incomes of up to RM15,000 are only granted a partial loan for their tuition fees.

At the same time, Annuar said, there are also applicants whose household incomes are above RM15,000 and Mara has been engaging with several local banks to arrange for these students to be given loans.