PM must give assurance that cases against Umno leaders will proceed - PKR rep
Barely a day in office, new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been asked to give assurance that all pending criminal investigations and cases against Umno leaders will continue to proceed as normal.
Citing several active cases, PKR Bukit Tengah assemblyperson Gooi Hsiao Leung said without any compromise, none of the leaders who have been charged or having pending criminal investigations against them should be appointed into the cabinet.
"Already on day one of Muhyiddin’s swearing-in as prime minister, we are given a frightening glimpse of what Perikatan Nasional’s back-door government would entail...
Barely a day in office, new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been asked to give assurance that all pending criminal investigations and cases against Umno leaders will continue to proceed as normal.
Citing several active cases, PKR Bukit Tengah assemblyperson Gooi Hsiao Leung (photo, above) said without any compromise, none of the leaders who have been charged or having pending criminal investigations against them should be appointed into the cabinet.
"Already on day one of Muhyiddin’s swearing-in as prime minister, we are given a frightening glimpse of what Perikatan Nasional’s back-door government would entail," Gooi, who is also a lawyer, said in a statement today.
Gooi was referring to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s refusal to answer when asked whether Umno leaders charged with criminal cases in court would be appointed into the new cabinet.
Hadi had reportedly said: "If we want to accuse leaders of having problems, Pakatan Harapan leaders too had them and they were stopped in court. They were just let off."
Hadi (above) was probably referring to events after the May 2018 national polls where, among others, former finance minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who was charged with the alleged purchase of a property at a below-market price saw the case dropped after Pakatan Harapan seized power.
So far, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is facing 87 counts of criminal charges while his predecessor and former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, are facing 62 counts of criminal charges in total.
Today, Ahmad Zahid's corruption trial has been postponed by the High Court as the former deputy prime minister needs to meet with Muhyiddin to discuss the new cabinet.
Meanwhile, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman has 51 counts of criminal charges, while other high profile leaders such as former Federal Territory minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has two; Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin has three; Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has 12, and Isa Samad has 20 criminal cases.
Umno leaders Ahmad Mazlan and Shahrir Samad had also been recently charged with money laundering offences for funds allegedly received from Najib.
"Is Hadi Awang proposing a review of all the above criminal cases against Umno leaders involving billions of ringgit to be dropped?" Gooi asked.
"Does the new prime minister who is now in government with Umno and PAS share Hadi’s view that the criminal charges levelled against Harapan leaders in the past are comparable to the level of bribery and corruption charges against Umno leaders today?" he further queried.
According to The Star today, Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa has said that the Muafakat Nasional coalition government "should never interfere in court affairs, like trying to drop high-profile cases involving their party members".
