Police have recorded a statement from former Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan on funds which the electoral reform movement received from Open Society Foundations (OSF), linked to American billionaire George Soros.

Ambiga, who is also the former Bar Council president, was summoned to the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur at 11am.

“It is unclear if I am being investigated under Section 124C of the Penal Code as well or if my statement was recorded as a witness,” she told reporters later.

Ambiga, who headed Bersih from 2010 to 2013, was accompanied by lawyer N Surendran.

Bersih is being investigated under Section 124C which concerns attempts to carry out activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

The movement’s current chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah was detained on Nov 18 under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) for 10 days.

Double standards

The police had also raided Bersih’s office in Petaling Jaya, where several documents were seized.

Meanwhile, Ambiga claimed that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should also be investigated under Section 124C over the RM2.6 billion he received.

“This is because they admitted using the donation which was channelled to the prime minister’s accounts for the last general election.

“It means they used foreign funds for the election. This is foreign intervention in our election process.

“I want to know why the prime minister is not investigated, but NGOs championing issues related to democracy and strengthening democratic institutions are being probed,” she added.

Ambiga is the latest in a string of NGO leaders who have been called up for questioning over the OSF funds.