KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has accused his rivals of "spinning” his warning to fellow politicians that they would be charged in court should his coalition lose the 15th general election.

The incumbent Bagan Datok MP said the speech during the 76th MIC general assembly on Monday was to point out that BN leaders may face selective or political persecutions if they return to become the Opposition.

"BN’s enemies will abuse power to make political accusations. The people need to be wary of ‘spun’ politics and the deceit of BN’s opponents.

"That is the method they used to win GE14 (the previous general elections) through twisting, confusing and provoking the people,” he said in a Facebook post.

In the video, he had alleged that both he and convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak were victims of political and selective prosecution by BN’s rivals as leaders of BN and told members of the audience that "you are in the waiting list”.

These included Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, MIC president Tan Sri S. Vigneswaran and his deputy Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, and MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

"To prevent this from happening, it is necessary for us to win GE15 with dominance, my friends,” he said, adding that the audience does not know what it feels like to be at an accusation stand.

He also said that the truth will always prevail while referring to his acquittal of 40 bribery charges in his Foreign Visa System (VLN) trial.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also president of Umno, demonstrated strong support for GE15 to be held as soon as possible in a move critics suggested was to prevent more of its so-called "court cluster” from being convicted.

He welcomed the news of the dissolution of Parliament on Monday by saying that the mandate had been returned to the people who will now decide who gets to form the next government after GE15.

However, early last month, he disputed claims that BN was seeking an early general election to save its leaders, saying that the true reason was to "save” Malaysians.

He also called the concerns of flooding expressed by BN rivals excuses designed to mask their real fear of being rejected by voters.

Ahmad Zahid is currently facing another trial in connection with Yayasan Akalbudi, a foundation formed to eradicate poverty and help the poor, where he is a trustee and later became the sole signatory of cheques.

In this trial, Zahid is facing 47 charges, namely 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to RM31 million of charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money-laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges over the receiving of RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.