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Ibrahim Ali admits received cheques from Najib as ‘BN friendly’ candidate for GE13

Putra president Datuk Ibrahim Ali speaks during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur January 22, 2020. — Picture by Yusot Mat Isa
Putra president Datuk Ibrahim Ali speaks during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur January 22, 2020. — Picture by Yusot Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Putra president Datuk Ibrahim Ali has admitted he received cheques from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak before the 13th general election (GE13) for campaign purposes.

In a statement, Ibrahim said he had no idea as to the source of the money and had received it before the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal broke after GE13.

This comes after former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd filed a civil suit against him to recover the RM600,000 he allegedly received.

He said he had been an independent candidate with no allocation for community programmes and was considered “friendly to BN”, adding that if he knew the money was tainted he would not have taken it.

“I am a candidate that’s considered ‘BN friendly’ whereby if any Umno candidate pulled out of the GE, I would step in and contest one-on-one against the PAS candidate.

“He (Najib) agreed to help me out and I had no idea where he got the money to help me. Maybe it came from Umno or BN. It could also have come from him personally,” Astro Awani reported Ibrahim as saying in a statement today.

“Why should I refuse this aid and I will definitely not question the source of the money seeing as Najib has been in the Cabinet since he was in his 20s. He can afford those amounts,” he said.

Civil suits were filed against several individuals and companies to claim billions of US dollars on behalf of state-owned 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Najib, former 1MDB office bearers like Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, and former chief executive officers (CEOs) of 1MDB Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Arul Kanda Kandasamy and Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman were among others named in the suit.

Ibrahim said he has spent all the money he received and will let his lawyers handle the case in court.

He also denied any wrongdoing.

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