Learn from Umno's frozen assets dilemma, Puad tells Muhyiddin

Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi told Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin not to be upset over his party's frozen accounts but to take a leaf out of Umno's book instead.

"Muhyiddin requests that the MACC cancel the freezing of Bersatu’s account. The reason is that the party will find it difficult to pay staff salaries.

"Muhyiddin has to learn from Umno. It was misery for Umno when its accounts were frozen.

“Umno’s accounts have been frozen for years, and just two days ago, the appeal to freeze Umno's account was withdrawn," said Puad in a Facebook post.

This came after Muhyiddin today said his party will write a letter to the MACC with a request to unfreeze its accounts, which are currently under probe.

Muhyiddin, who again denied claims Bersatu received ill-gotten funds while he served as prime minister, said the request was to ease the party's operations including paying wages to its staff and office rentals.

"Once our accounts are frozen, we, as an important and major political party, have no money to pay wages for even a month, and now they are saying the freeze is for three months," said the Perikatan Nasional chairperson.

Other access to funds

Puad, however, was unconvinced, saying he believed that Muhyiddin should have access to funds regardless.

"It is impossible for Muhyiddin to have no other money," he said.

He then alluded to a purported revelation by former BN secretary-general Annuar Musa in a TikTok video that there were tens of millions of ringgit in Muhyiddin's room when he met the Bersatu president.

MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki on Tuesday confirmed Bersatu’s accounts had been frozen two weeks ago to facilitate investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act.

The revelation came just two days after the party declared its 2020 and 2021 accounts, in an attempt to counter allegations of corruption.

Further, Muhyiddin stressed that Bersatu's audited financial records as revealed to the public will clear the party of any impropriety claims.

Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu said MACC’s freezing of the party's accounts could hurt its chances in the upcoming state elections, while the party's secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin accused the current federal administration of using a government agency as a tool to “kill” the party’s credibility, as well as that of PN.

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