KOTA KINABALU, July 2 — Parti Warisan said today it is backing Parti Bersatu Sabah’s allegation that Barisan Nasional (BN) is responsible for the state’s complicated immigrant issues by giving out Malaysian identity cards in exchange for votes.

Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said Warisan has now been vindicated by Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili’s revelation after it has battled such accusations for quite some time.

"People have been making allegations that it was Warisan all this while. Now that Datuk Maximus has named a BN component party, we know the real culprit.

"White papers which were issued by an independent body have mentioned it. There is truth to it. Even Datuk Salleh has also admitted to it by calling PBS ungrateful,” he said, referring to BN and Umno senior leader and Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.

Shafie said he and Warisan were never involved in giving out identification to foreigners.

Yesterday, Ongkili began the friendly fire by blaming the BN component party for triggering the state's immigrant problems, stopping short of naming the party but claimed everyone knew of the open secret based on disclosure in the Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2013.

His allegations started a barrage of defensive comments from Umno leaders who were in the state capital for a BN state convention.