KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has called on Umno and PAS leaders to declare their assets.

In a posting on his Twitter, Syed Saddiq said he was one of the earliest ministers in the former Pakatan Harapan government to publicly declare his assets.

"If Ku Nan, BN's secretary-general, can gather RM1 billion in assets, imagine other BN leaders," Syed Saddiq said.

The Muar MP was referring to former Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who revealed that he declared over RM900 million in assets throughout his political career when he served in the administrations of three prime ministers.

Yesterday, Tengku Adnan lashed out in the High Court after the judge refused his application to keep details of his asset declarations when he had been in the federal government from public scrutiny.

The High Court ruled that the details of Tengku Adnan’s assets while he was in Cabinet must not be heard privately before just the judge and lawyers, as the trial has to be done transparently for it to be seen as conducted fairly.

Tengku Adnan is currently on trial for allegedly receiving a bribe of RM2 million from a businessman, with his lawyer Datuk Tan Hock Chuan this morning explaining that it was necessary to present the details of Tengku Adnan’s past asset declarations to the prime minister to show that he did not need to take the RM2 million for himself as he was already a wealthy man.

He first declared over RM938 million when he became a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2001, then declared over RM711 million to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister in 2006.

Tengku Adnan subsequently declared over RM691 million and RM782 million in assets in 2013 and 2016 respectively to Datuk Seri Najib Razak while holding the Federal Territories portfolio.