KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman today said at least 15 Umno lawmakers had signed statutory declarations (SD) to support PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to become the prime minister, days after he was sacked as Umno Supreme Council member.

In a press conference, the Pasir Salak MP also alleged a movement to topple Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi back in May 2020.

"I’m a living witness. I didn’t want to sign at first, but I was urged to. After that, they kept saying ’No DAP, No Anwar’. Those are all lies. They were lying to the public and especially Umno members. I’m basically being sympathetic towards Umno members that did not know what was happening behind the curtain.

"We had to respect the president, right? We could not reject the president,” he told reporters at Eastin Hotel here.

He alleged that the list of the 15 MPs who had signed the SDs in the at Tamu Hotel in Kampung Baru here included Zahid, Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

Tajuddin also accused Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan had chaired a meeting in his Bukit Damansara resident to remove Zahid from leading the party.

He listed the attendees as Najib, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, and Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

“So why didn't it happen? Because Tok Mat and Bossku were betrayed. So it didn’t happen," he said, using Mohamad and Najib's monikers, and added that Zahid loyalists had confronted the two over the matter.

Tajuddin said 130 out of the 191 Umno division leaders including 18 from Perak and 17 from Selangor had signed the memorandum to topple Zahid.

The surprise press conference today came days after Tajuddin was sacked as Umno Supreme Council member on June 24.

The controversial MP made headlines for the wrong reasons several times in his political career, and was removed in May last year as the non-executive chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd after he made fun of a LRT crash.