Ambiga said money for the Bersih rally was donated by Malaysian citizens
Datuk Awang Adek Hussin today said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) can freeze the assets of those believed to be participating in activities deemed risky to the nation’s security if the police recommend so.
The deputy finance minister highlighted this in relation to reports that the Bersih 2.0 movement headed by Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was receiving foreign funding for its activities.
According to Awang, provisions within the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act allowed for the central bank to not only bar access to such funds but also trace both deposits and withdrawals to the offending accounts.
Bersih was earlier hit by allegations of having received funding from, among others, foreign Christian organisations to finance its July 9 rally for electoral reforms.
The group, however, moved to repudiate the accusations by saying the donations for the rally came from Malaysian citizens here and abroad.
It also clarified that money the group received from two US organisations — the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) — were for other projects unrelated to the July 9 march.
No comments:
Post a Comment