RPK File: Najib named in RM5mil Umno defection offer to PKR man

THE LIM SOO NEE REPORT

by uppercaise

Najib Tun Razak was named in a RM5 million defection offer to PKRs Lim Soo Nee, the assemblyman for Kulim, to help topple the PAS-led Kedah state government by switching to the Barisan Nasional, just a month after the March 2008 general election.

Lim said in a report to the MACC that he was told Najib would have RM20 million in cash with him when he came to Sungai Petani. The offer to defect was made in April 2008 by a middleman on behalf of former Kedah menteri besar and Kedah Umno chief Mahadzir Khalid, whose government had failed to be re-elected in the elections of the previous month.

In the MACC report, Lim gave details of the many times he was contacted, between April and September 2008, about defecting and of secret recordings made of his meetings with Umno people. Images of the report were published by Raja Petra Kamarudin yesterday at Malaysia Today under the headline Proof that the MACC is a component member of Barisan Nasional

Lim Soo Nee, assemblyman for Kulim, said he received an offer of RM5 million to defect

Former Kedah menteri besar Mahadzir Khalid reportedly met Lim in a hotel room meeting that was taped by PKR

Lim said the first contact was by middleman Tan Yak Siew who offered Lim RM4 million to resign and said the offer could be increased to RM5 million. If Lim wanted even more, a meeting could be arranged with Najib and Mahadzir.

Lim said Tan had explained how the money would be paid. Lim was to receive the money in cash. He was to obtain a safe-deposit box at a bank and keep the cash in the box. After he defected, BN people would arrange for him to be appointed as a director of a listed company. At the end of the year, directors of the company would receive a bonus or profits. The cash in the safe-deposit box could then clear.

Tan told ! him that a meeting could be arranged with Najib, who would be bringing RM20 million in cash when he came to Sungai Petani.

In September that year, Lim said, a meeting with Mahadzir was held in a room at the Sunway hotel in Prai. Audio and video recordings of the meeting were secretly made by the PKR intelligence bureau.

Lim said Mahadzir confirmed the offer of RM5 million to defect and said that if Lim wanted more he could discuss it with Najib. Lim was also told that if he defected, he would receive several projects.

YB Radzi might refer to Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, MP for Kangar, a former minister and Umno secretary-general

YB Azhar might refer to Penang opposition leader and Umno state secretary Azhar Ibrahim, assemblyman for Penaga

Zulkifli Noordin, controversial MP for Kulim-Bandar Baharu, was later sacked from PKR

Lim said he told PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim of the defection offer on April 13, two days after the first contact, at a party meeting in Shah Alam, attended by Zamri Yusof, head of communications for Pakatan Rakyat in Kedah. (Zamri is now a senator for Kedah.)

Anwar told Lim to see Johari Abdul, the MP for Sungei Patani, who told Lim he would obtain a recorder for Lim to secretly record his conversations with BN people.

Lim said he also told Zulkifli Noordin, the MP for Kulim-Bandar Baharu, his room-mate at the Quality Hotel in Shah Alam, where they were attending a two-day party meeting.

Later that year Zulkifli Noordin became notorious for storming into and disrupting a Bar Council public forum on Islamic conversions. Earlier this year he had lodged a police report against Khalid Samad of Pas, the MP for Shah Alam, and spoke out in the press against his party, in a public dispute over the use of the word Allah. Zulkifli was sacked from PKR and is now one of five BN-aligned independent members of Parliament.

Lim also implicated former! Kedah P KR Youth leader Jamil Ibrahim. He said Jamil came to his office in May 2008 and told him of the defection plans and offered Lim RM1 million. Lim said he became angry with Jamil, for now being offered only RM1 million after having rejected the earlier offer of RM5 million. (Johari left the party in August 2008 with 200 other members.)

Others implicated in the report were:

YB Azhar possibly a reference to Datuk Azhar Ibrahim, assemblyman for Penaga and opposition leader in the State Assembly, and Penang Umno liaison secretary; Lim said Azhar came to his office on July 27 and told him all PKR division heads were ready to leave the party.
YB Radzi, possibly a reference to Datuk Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, MP for Kangar, who was home minister and Umno secretary-general until March 2008. Lim said he met YB Radzi in August 2008 and was told of plans for a three-day all-expenses paid holiday in Bangkok for five assemblymen from PKR, as part of the planned defection.

Lims report was recorded by senior ACA officer Mahan binti Din of the Seberang Perai office. She noted in the report that she understood that ACA headquarters would be handling the case from then on. However, Raja Petra commented that the case had been marked NFA (no further action) showing that the MACC was not set up to combat corruption. Just like the PDRM, SPR, AGC, and others, the MACC has proven to be just another component member of Barisan Nasional.