© Provided by Free Malaysia Today Azalina Othman Said said Malaysian law does not have any statute of limitations to initiate an investigation. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said has denied saying the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has dropped its inquiry into allegations that Perikatan Nasional received funds from gaming companies to fund its 2022 general election campaign.

“I would like to emphasise that the response I provided in the Dewan Rakyat on behalf of MACC does not indicate that any investigation related to these allegations has been terminated or dropped,” she said in a statement today.

“Instead, MACC has only stated that no investigation papers have been opened thus far due to the general nature of the information obtained.”

She said Malaysian law does not have any statute of limitations to initiate an investigation.

In December 2022, Malaysiakini reported that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim implied that PN’s funds for its election campaign partly came from gaming companies, particularly those that took part in “special draws” for 4D numbers.

Yesterday, Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari raised a question in the Dewan Rakyat about the status of the investigation into allegations that certain parties within PN had received contributions from gaming companies during the previous general election campaign.

In a written response on behalf of MACC, Azalina said the agency had conducted a detailed study regarding the information provided, but found it to be “too general”.

“There were no parties that were able to confirm this issue. Therefore, no investigation papers were opened into this matter,” she said.

She said MACC can conduct investigations and open investigation papers as necessary under the MACC Act 2009, or any other applicable law, based on the information and evidence obtained from time to time.

Besides MACC, she said, other agencies such as the police and the Inland Revenue Board are empowered to investigate offences.

“Therefore, it is unreasonable for any party to politicise or distort the response I provided to the Pasir Mas MP in the Dewan Rakyat regarding this matter, or make unfounded accusations against the prime minister,” she said.

“I urge all parties to respect the principle of ‘rule of law’ and not to jump to conclusions based solely on replies given in the Dewan Rakyat.”

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