Law Minister Azalina: No further action from MACC over claim Perikatan’s GE15 campaign funded by gambling money

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has not opened any investigations over the claim that Perikatan Nasional (PN) had funded its campaign in the last general election using earnings from gaming operators/

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said that the national anti-graft body has concluded that the allegation was "too general" after a detailed study has been carried out.

"The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has carried out a detailed study on the information," she said in a Parliamentary written reply.

"However, MACC found the information to be too general and no party can confirm this issue. Therefore, no investigation file has been opened on this issue."

Azalina was responding to a question by Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadli Shaari that asked about the status of the investigation against the coalition over the gambling fund allegation.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had previously said that gambling funds might have been used for PN’s campaign, after he announced that special draws for gaming operators would be slashed to just eight annually.

The Muhyiddin administration had raised the number of special draws to 22 per year.

Special draws are run by number forecast operators like Magnum, Sports Toto and Da Ma Cai.

In a separate Parliamentary written reply, the minister also cleared the government component parties from any potential graft charges after MACC found no elements of corruption in the current administration.

"However, if there is any witness who has new evidence regarding this matter, they can report it to the MACC and further investigation and action will be carried out promptly in accordance with the law currently in force," she said.

The question that Azalina responded to was posed by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, who is also Marang MP, who asked about the status of the investigation against ruling parties' sources of funds in the last GE15 campaign.

MACC had previously frozen and seized several bank accounts, including those belonging to PN's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.