SPINNING A WAY OUT FOR NAJIB: Not all RM2.6 bil used for GE13, the rest spent on Umno - Tajuddin

Umno, the biggest party in the country with 3.5 million members, needs huge political funding to run the party, admits its supreme council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman.

Tajuddin said this when asked whether he was surprised by the party's wealth in light of the RM2.6 billion “donation” that went into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank accounts.

"Umno is not rich. You need to know that we have 3.5 million members and over 6,000 branches. We need to service more than 500 state constituencies.

"We need (the political funding) to compete with the opponents in the general elections," Tajuddin told Malaysiakini yesterday.

"If you are talking about a family of 20 members, you don't need that much money, " he added.

The deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister argued that Umno had to depend on political donations as the party was not allowed to be involved in business.

"We are relying on donations. Umno is dead without donations," he noted.

On July 3, US-based financial daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was deposited into Najib's private bank accounts.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) announced on Monday that the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib's private bank accounts were sourced from "donors", and not from the 1MDB fund.

Secrets can be used to attack party

However, Tajuddin admitted that supreme council members never knew about the money in Najib's accounts before the WSJ report.

"Every party has secrets relating to its funding, strategy, tactics and logistics, which are only known to the top leaders," the Pasir Salak MP said.

He added that such secrets can be used by the opponents to attack the party if leaked, and as such, it is not necessary for the second-liners or for the grassroots to know.

MACC Chief Commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed had said the commission's call for all parties to declare their political donations has been ignored.

Najib, who is Umno president, said he would disclose all political contributions given to the party, but only if the opposition did the same.

However, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng Lim maintained that his party had never been approached to reveal its funding details. - M'kini