RAHMAN DAHLAN INCRIMINATES BN AGAIN: 'You can be corrupt even if you declare assets'

KUALA LUMPUR - It may be “good practice” for politicians to declare their assets but it is simplistic to believe that those who did so are not corrupt, Barisan Nasional’s strategic communications chief said amid an ongoing debate over Putrajaya's plans to regulate political funding.

Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan ticked off PKR's Rafizi Ramli for calling a boycott to Datuk Seri Najib Razak's political financing reform plans unless the prime minister and his Cabinet first declared their assets, saying he failed to see a connection between the two.

“Declaring assets publicly does not mean you are clean, the fallacy of Rafizi's argument is mind-boggling. Don't you think you are stretching the truth just a little bit?

“Declaring one's assets is good practice, but it does not mean you are not corrupted,” the Umno minister told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

Arguing further, Abdul Rahman gave the hypothetical example of a Selangor mentri besar seeking kickbacks.

“Do you think he wants to put it under his own name and then declare it? He would be stupid to do so.”

Rafizi and Rahman

The Kota Belud MP stressed that the issue of declaring assets and the government's plans to regulate political funding were two separate issues and accused Rafizi of using the boycott plan as a means to distract the public from PKR's stand on political funding regulation.

“Don't shift the goal post, Rafizi. Do you or your party agree to it or not?

“Please do not fail the efforts of the prime minister,” Abdul Rahman said.

Yesterday, Rafizi claimed that Putrajaya’s decision to table a law on political funding next year was an attempt to distract the people from the issue of how Najib had received a donation of RM2.6 billion in his personal bank account, with the donors yet to be disclosed.

Najib announced last Friday the formation of a bipartisan panel to regulate political funding, but the Malaysian Bar has said it will not participate in the panel as investigations into the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s account are ongoing, noting that the proposal for the committee will be seen as a distraction from corruption allegations. - Malay Mail