The [Malaysian] government was today urged to clarify its involvement in the construction of a £5 million mansion for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, near Harare. In an immediate reaction, two ministers have said this would be investigated. Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said this morning that Mugabe’s statement "is shocking."
"I call on the government to issue a ministerial statement as we want to know whether we have secretly and unlawfully funded the 25-bedroom mansion," he told a press conference in the Parliament. Mugabe, in an interview with television station Sky News, had denied that the mansion was being financed out of public coffers but said, instead, that the Malaysian and Chinese governments were providing partial funding.
| That's because they like him... |
However he did not disclose the exact sum involved or when the money had been channelled to him. In the same interview, he said former Malaysian premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had provided the timber for the structure. Lim asked how, if at all, the Malaysian government could have provided funds since Mugabe has a reputation for dictatorial leadership. "(There is) no moral and political reason for us to do that," he said, pointing out that no audit report has been tabled in Parliament pertaining to the alleged funding, which may involve taxpayers’ money.
| Taxpayers? They have a claim on the money they cough up? |
"We know Mugabe is a good friend of Mahathir... (But) there was no parliamentary approval to fund this rotten and corruptible regime," said Lim, who is DAP chairperson and Ipoh Timor MP. He said it would be an "unprecedented case" for a government to fund another government leader’s mansion, if the claim is proven true. Speaking to malaysiakini later, Deputy Foreign Minister Joseph Salang Gandum said he is unaware of Mugabe’s statement. "I will check on it. But I don’t think the government would have funded the mansion, (although) we do assist (the Zimbabwean government) in other aspects such as human resources. But it is quite impossible (that we have funded) a mansion," he said at Parliament House.
| "At least not knowingly... Say! Y'don't suppose any of that money we sent for the widows and orphans... Naw! Of course not. Forget I ever said anything." |
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