Liong Sik: I never received money from Mahathir while in MCA

KAJANG: Dr Ling Liong Sik today said he had never received funds from Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his tenure as MCA president, adding that the Chinese-based party was capable of sourcing its own funds.

“We were rich enough to use the money we earned to mobilise our political activities,” Ling said.

Ling served as the party’s president from 1986 to 2003. He was also the transport minister and a cabinet member during Mahathir’s time in office.

He was responding to a report in Sarawak Report last month alleging that the Selangor MCA liaison committee had received RM5 million from 1MDB funds on April 24, 2013, two weeks before the 13th general election.

The whistle-blower site also claimed that Umno had received over RM100 million from 1MDB funds between April 11 and 22 the same year.

These claims could not be independently verified by FMT. Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali earlier said there was no evidence that money had been misappropriated from 1MDB.

Asked if he was aware of allegations that the current MCA leadership was said to have received money from 1MDB funds, Ling said he had no knowledge of it.

On what MCA leaders should do if they had allegedly received money from the sovereign fund, Ling said:

“They are smart enough to do what they have to do.”

Earlier today, MIC president Dr S Subramaniam downplayed the allegations, stating that as far as the Indian-based party was concerned, the money it had received came from the Barisan Nasional.