BANGI: The purported gold bars seized by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) were part of investment purposes, says Aman Palestine lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali.
Rafique said Aman Palestine has denied allegations that the gold bars seized by the MACC were used to embezzle the public’s donations.
“According to the company’s constitution, it stipulated that the gold bars can be used for investment purposes and it is allowed under the power given to the board of directors of Aman Palestine.
“The allegations were malicious and false. There are 16 articles that allowed the board members of Aman Palestine to invest in various mechanisms.
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“It is not wrong and gold is valuable and easy to convert to cash before it can be used as donation funds,” he said in a press conference at the Aman Palestine headquarters on Monday (Nov 27).
Aman Palestine also said it had conducted their audits yearly and the most recent one was conducted in 2021.
The audit papers can be viewed through the Companies Commission (SSM) website.
On Sunday (Nov 26), The Star reported that four gold bars were among items seized during a series of raids as graft investigators looked into allegations of misappropriation of funds within Aman Palestin Berhad.
Sources said the gold bars that were seized weighed a kilogramme each and were of Grade 999.9.
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It is learnt that the raids were carried out on Nov 24 and raiding teams had gone to five locations, including Aman Palestin’s office.
As of Nov 27, the MACC has summoned Aman Palestin chief executive officer Awang Suffian Awang Piut, five board members and three staff from the organisation for questioning at its headquarters in Putrajaya.
Rafique also claimed the media statement issued by the MACC on Nov 23, was clearly malicious and deliberately published to create a negative perception towards Aman Palestine.
He said the statement seemed to paint Aman Palestine to be guilty of embezzling the RM70mil funds, which they had denied.
“The statements by MACC regarding the case were not thorough, unreliable and lacked integrity. As an investigative agency, MACC must act fairly in the investigation. It has no power to punish... the authority lies in the judicial system.
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“By issuing statements from time to time without warning, the MACC had fueled negative perception as if they were conspiring with irresponsible social media practitioners.
“This has impacted Aman Palestine, its board members and their families,” he said while adding that the commission failed to clarify that of the 41 accounts frozen only 11 accounts belonged to Aman Palestine used for collecting funds.
Rafique also urged lawmakers to raise the issue in the Dewan Rakyat as the issue of donations towards Palestine is of public interest.
“The government must explain why its enforcement agencies took action to freeze accounts for humanitarian activities,” he said.
On Nov 23, the MACC had said that over RM25mil in 41 bank accounts under Aman Palestin were frozen.
The freezing was carried out after the MACC investigated allegations of Aman Palestin misusing public donations.
