Shafie, who is the president of Parti Warisan Sabah, said he was, therefore, surprised that Nazri was now accusing him and former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin of being among the biggest recipients of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s controversial RM2.6 billion donation.
“I remember when I raised questions on 1MDB, Nazri was seated by my side. He put his thumbs up, but not to be seen.
“He said it was good that we asked such questions,” Shafie told a press conference in Kimanis, Sabah, yesterday.
Describing Nazri’s allegation as absurd, Shafie said if indeed he had received a “big chunk” of the donation, which some claim was embezzled from state-owned 1MDB, he wouldn’t have questioned Najib over the matter.
This was because Najib would surely have asked him why he needed to question the source of the money of which he had been a recipient, argued Shafie.
“Why didn’t Najib ask me that then? So I don’t know why he (Nazri) wants to raise that issue, and claim we received a huge amount of 1MDB funds. It’s a bit absurd that it came from a senior minister.”
The Semporna MP insisted that he had never received such funding from Najib. However, he recalled a circular offering sponsorships for those who wanted to go for a pilgrimage in Mecca.
“It costs hardly more than RM5,000, RM6,000 (per person), I believe. But when you talk about 1MDB, it’s amounting to billions of ringgit.”
Shafie claimed Nazri was merely attempting to defend against the controversies surrounding the RM2.6 billion donation by pointing the finger at him and Muhyiddin.
By doing so, Nazri had inadvertently affirmed the existence of the money, and that it had been used for political purposes, said Shafie.
“I would love to know how much was given to me and whether it was banked into my account. Was it RM10 million, or billion?
“(It would be) nice to see that. I want to use the money for this coming election if the money is there.”
Nazri, during a tell-all session with Umno Overseas Alumni Club members in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, admitted to having received about RM500,000 from the donation, to “repair homes” in his Padang Rengas parliamentary constituency, which had 30 Umno divisions.
But, he claimed both Shafie and Muhyiddin had many more Umno divisions under their respective parliamentary constituencies, hence the allocation would have been much higher.
In a Cabinet reshuffle two years ago, the duo were dropped from the federal Cabinet after speaking out in public about the allegations surrounding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation that was deposited into Najib’s personal accounts.
Najib had explained the donation, saying it came from a member of the Saudi royal family to help the Barisan Nasional’s campaign in the 2013 general election.