There is nothing wrong with MIC receiving funds from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the chairperson of BN, said party treasurer-general S Vell Paari.
“All component parties receive money from BN, that is politics….. From the first prime minister, second prime minister, and even during the time of (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad, all (BN) parties receive money for programmes and things,” he told Malaysiakini.
He was responding to whistleblower site Sarawak Report, which claimed that MIC received about RM19 million between 2012 and 2014.
Vell Paari pointed out that the funds were given to MIC and not its leaders, while the money had been declared in the party’s annual report and audited.
“Indirectly, what she (Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown) has done, in her effort to discredit me and MIC, is to show how much the prime minister has helped MIC and the Indian community…..
“Of course when somebody helps you, you have to be grateful, isn’t it? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist (to figure this out).
“She (Rewcastle-Brown) says I am a staunch supporter of Najib. Of course, only supporters support their leaders. Do you expect enemies (to do so)?” he added.
Sarawak Report had also alleged that the prime minister gave RM650,000 to the wife of former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam following his serious illness. Quizzed on this, Vell Paari said Rewcastle-Brown should not pick on someone who is unwell.
“Stick to me. Why pick on a person who is not well?” he said. Vell Paari said Najib’s gesture showed that he is a kind-hearted person.
“This shows the humanity in our prime minister, to settle his (Subramaniam) medical bill,” he added.
Following the DOJ’s latest civil forfeiture suit, Vell Paari had described it as a political conspiracy of the opposition to topple a democratically-elected government.
Sarawak Report thanks Vell Paari for once again confirming that the documentation we have referred to in our reporting on Najib’s payments is entirely accurate.
This is the same documentation that shows lawyer Shafee Abdullah was paid RM9.5 million by Najib during his prosecution of opposition leader Anwar.
It doesn’t appear to worry Vell Paari that the money that Najib has so “kindly” handed out to him and his political cronies was in fact STOLEN from the Rakyat. Worse, it was stolen borrowed money, so the interest on that stolen money will also have to be found on top of the original needing to be repaid.
This doesn’t worry Vell, who is still tearful at the generosity of his benefactor with other people’s stolen money.
And why should the widow of his colleague not also receive a secret handout of over half a million, he opines? To hell with the widows of other people less fortunately connected!
Likewise, to hell with women dying in childbirth at record levels in places like Sarawak, because there is no money left over after all of the corruption in high places to pay for even basic health care. To hell with their struggling orphans.
As long as Najib’s cronies can still feed at the trough and drive around their comfortable quarters in air-con luxury motors, Vell Paari reckons the Rakyat are being well served.
Others may disagree.
Neither will his crony Shafee Abdullah be so grateful to Vell’s open gob. Because Shafee is about to appear in court to explain our evidence that Najib paid him RM9.5 million during Anwar’s trial. Vell has just made it a lot harder for Shafee to deny it!