Sabah scandal: Shafie asks why no arrests, recalls 'orange' attire

Summary

• Warisan president Shafie Apdal asks why nobody has been arrested yet in the Sabah corruption scandal.

• In comparison, he says he was arrested for questioning the 1MDB scandal.

• He also denies cooperation with Sabah Umno in the upcoming state election.

Warisan president Shafie Apdal asked why nobody has been arrested yet in the Sabah corruption scandal.

This is considering that he himself had been arrested for questioning the 1MDB scandal, Shafie said at a Chap Goh Mei celebration in Tenom, Sabah last night.

“When I questioned (about 1MDB), I straightaway entered (lockup). I got remanded.

“For several weeks I slept on the floor and wore orange. In Muhyiddin’s (Yassin) case he wears a tie, Najib (Abdul Razak) enters court wearing a coat, I wore orange and, what more, I slept on the floor.

“These videos with YBs (elected representatives) came out, no orange clothes, nobody sleeping on the floor, what’s that about?” he said.

Shafie was referring to a series of videos that a whistleblower published on Malaysiakini showing eight Sabah assemblypersons allegedly discussing bribes.

In 2016, Shafie was suspended from Umo despite being the party’s vice-president for his criticisms of then prime minister Najib and 1MDB.

He later announced his resignation from Umno and then set up Sabah-based Warisan in a bid to dislodge his former party from the state.

In 2017, the MACC arrested him over the alleged misappropriation of at least RM1.5 billion in development funds for Sabah during his time as the rural and regional development minister.

This was seen as politically motivated as Najib had sacked Shafie as the minister in 2015 for challenging him over his handling of the 1MDB scandal.

‘Umno wanted a pact’

At the event, Shafie went on to claim that Umno had expressed its intention to cooperate with Warisan in the upcoming Sabah state polls.

“After that (video exposé), Umno said it wants to cooperate with Warisan.

“I told (Umno) that Warisan is not cooperating with any parties. Warisan cooperates with the people of Sabah,” he said.

Yesterday, both Sabah Umno and Warisan denied that the two parties have reportedly reached an electoral agreement in the upcoming state election.

A news portal recently reported that Warisan and Sabah BN had discussed a compromise for the state poll.

It claimed that both parties had agreed to not contest against each other in 50 of the 73 state seats.

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