Kubang Pasu Umno division chief Mohd Johari Bahrum today refuted former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim of bribery during Saturday's contest to elect delegates.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, he said there have been no complaints lodged about money politics among those who attended the meet.

"The claim of money politics is not true," stressed Johari, who was Mahathir's former political secretary and current deputy internal security minister.

"RM200 can't buy our delegates to reject Tun (Mahathir). I don't think that such a cheap (rate) can make us reject Tun,"he said.

Johari was referring to Mahathir's claim of envelopes containing RM200 being passed around to the voters.

The former premier, who is on a warpath against his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, lost in his bid to be elected as a delegate to represent the division at the Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur in November.

He later blamed his defeat on money politics and a list of preferred candidates' numbers, which corresponded to the nominees running in the party ballot, being circulated during the polls.

'Flesh and blood'

Responding to this, Johari said it was "normal" for a preferred candidates list to be circulated at any election.

The deputy minister added that it was the first time that allegations of money politics had surfaced in the Kubang Pasu Umno division, which was controlled by Mahathir for three decades until his retirement in 2003.

According to Johari, the money politics issue was part of the "propaganda" from Mahathir's supporters.

"Tun has been with us for more than 30 years, he has become the flesh and blood of Kubang Pasu Umno. That's why I think there is somebody who is trying to make this into an issue," he said.

He said Mahathir's supporters brought in numerous newspapers and DVDs containing the ex-premier's speeches and distributed them for free at the campaign. "This has never happened before," he added.

Johari also denied Mahathir's accusation that the Umno supreme council had instructed him to block the former premier from contesting.

"As far as I am concerned, the election is over and Tun has also accepted the decision. Tun actually tak ada apa (is okay with the decision), only his supporters that are lebih-lebih (going overboard)," he added.