Please Tok Mat, tell us, are you corrupt?

Tok Mat.... aka Dato' Seri Utama Haji Mohamad bin Hasan, Deputy Chairman of Barisan Nasional (BN), State Leader of the Opposition of Negeri Sembilan, Member of the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Rantau since March 2004, who served as the 10th Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan.....are you corrupt?

Did you transfer RM$10 million to London through a money changer in 2008? How did you get the RM$10 million? And if you did transfer the RM10 million, why did you not go through a proper channel such as a bank?

Why did the Attorney-General’s Chambers clear you of any wrongdoing when it found the funds were clean and decided instead to punish the money changer that had helped remit the money to a London account? How clean were the funds? Please explain how you managed to obtain the money, and what was your source of income. Surely you did not earn that money through your time as MB of Negri Sembilan or during your time in politics?

So many questions asked and so few answers.

I have followed your time in Umno with much interest because you came from the corporate sector. Can you still remember getting that call from Tun's office summoning you to New York to meet with him when he was there, and being asked by Tun to join Umno because Tun believed there was much you could contribute to Umno from your time in the corporate sector?

You started your career as a Bank Negara Trainee, and then became Assistant Manager at Malayan Banking Berhad, and then Manager of Arab Malaysian Merchant Bank Berhad. Later you moved to Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad, and served as General Manager of Bank Bumiputra London. From the banking world, you moved to the corporate sector as Chief Executive Officer of Cold Storage Malaysia Berhad (1992-1994) and your last position in the corporate sector was as Managing Director of Cycle and Carriage Bintang Berhad (1994-2004).

Since then, I have followed your meteoric rise through the ranks of Umno, and I believed that when the time came, you will be the one we want to lead Umno because we believed that because you came from outside Umno, you would not be tainted by money politics - what more by corruption.

And then comes the revelation that in 2008 the MACC found out about the RM$10 million you transferred to London to buy a property. I was certain that you would come up with a plausible explanation as to how you came about having that money.

Instead, it was the money changer who was charged with a crime and put out of business. How was it the money changers' fault that you had the RM10 million?

And why buy a property in London? Why not in Malaysia? Would it not help the local real estate sector if the money was instead invested in Malaysia?

Is it because you wanted to hide your wealth? Why hide your wealth if it was, as the AG office told us, "clean money"?

These questions must be answered because you are now number two in Umno. And recently we have seen that you have been on the side of your president, Zahid Hamidi, in his attempts to have the courts censured for not giving Najib Razak a fair trial. Are you also complicit with Zahid Hamidi in wanting a pardon for Najib Razak?

Why?

Do you believe that the Courts were wrong in convicting Najib Razak of the crimes he was charged with? Surely you know that Najib and Rosmah are guilty as charged because you should know firsthand what the 1MDB scam was all about. You know about what Rosmah Mansor was doing as Malaysian's First Lady. You know, and we know of these things because not only was all this common knowledge for everyone in Malaysia and the world but it has already been confirmed by the courts. So why are you not happy that these two corrupt individuals are going to jail?

Initially, I have been relieved that I did not see you among the Umno court cluster because I truly believed that you were different from them. And now I hear that MACC are opening your files again and that criminal charges of money laundering and corruption will be laid upon you. And that, I am told, is the reason why you are now on the side of Zahid Hamidi because you need his support for you to be Umno's president - not Ismail Sabri. And once you are Umno's president, and if Umno is successful at PRU15, you can then bury your file again .....and I fear...also bury the fire of Najib, Rosmah, Zahid Hamidi and the Umno court cluster, because birds of a feather flock together!

All this is worrying for me and for many Malaysians. So please Tok Mat...tell us...are you corrupt?