DAP rep ejected; recipients of funds from Najib's account revealed

KINI ROUNDUP | Here are the key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

DAP rep ejected

DAP Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh was ejected from the Dewan Rakyat by the new speaker, Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, for refusing to retract his statement describing Umno Youth members as "gangsters (samseng).”

Parliamentary opposition leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi attributed BN's defeat in the 14th general election to the debt-laden legacy left behind by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first tenure as prime minister.

Zahid also told the Dewan that BN " forgives" the agriculture and agro-based industries minister for wrongly claiming that the drop in foodstuff prices was partly due to the zero-rated GST.

BN lawmakers questioned the absence of ministers and their deputies in the Dewan Rakyat while a cabinet meeting was taking place – despite deputies not sitting in on those meetings.

The Parliament secretariat clarified that the wagyu beef served for lunch in the Dewan yesterday was sponsored by caterers, and that it was served to only eight guests on the VVIP table.

Recipients of funds from Najib's account revealed

A Malaysiakini microsite details how RM470 million from the account of former premier Najib Abdul Razak was distributed among former BN component parties before GE13.

In response, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang urged these parties to return the money to the public coffers.

Meanwhile, the MACC denied deliberately keeping mum over the unfreezing of Najib's bank account, given that the original freezing was widely reported.

The agency’s deputy commissioner for prevention told a forum that it did investigate the "cincin" (ring) issue, alluding to Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor allegedly purchasing an RM24 million diamond ring using public coffers.

MACC officers seized documents in relation to its probes on three mega-projects put on hold by Putrajaya – the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), the Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) and the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP).

Other Kinibites

The Malay Chambers of Commerce said that it is Umno and not Harapan which has oppressed Malays, particularly in being made proxies of non-Malay recipients of government contracts.

New MIC president SA Vigneswaran dismissed claims that the party was irrelevant, and claimed that people still come to seek its help to solve their problems.

The Sarawak government will stop issuing new timber licences, according to Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) executive director Latheefa Koya slammed Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for urging the public not to 'lynch' the 41-year-old man in the Kelantan child marriage case.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng agreed to look into amending laws to ensure that federal allocations are distributed equally among all states.

Looking ahead

The Customs Department will hold a briefing and press conference on the Sales and Services Tax (SST), at Auditorium Kompleks Kastam Wilayah in Kelana Jaya.

Umno Youth will hold a press conference at Putra World Trade Centre.