Tun M's RM10 million expenditure on election 'illogical and irrational' - Najib

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today described Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that he spent under RM10 million in each election campaign when he was UMNO president, as illogical and irrational.

He was referring to a statement by Dr Mahathir who claimed he had only spent RM50 million for all five general elections during his administration.

"If you want to make any statement, let it be rational.... he said he spent only RM10 million.

"I did a count on parliamentary seats and state assembly seats. The minimum expenditure is RM41 million, and that doesn't include billboards.

"If you want to criticise, it should be logical... this was not even rational," said the UMNO president when officiating the Kepala Batas UMNO delegates meeting on Sunday.

Najib is facing criticism for receiving RM2.6 billion in his personal accounts shortly before the 2013 General Election.

Dr Mahathir in his blog entry recently had slammed the RM2.6 billion expenditure for the 2013 general election, saying it was absurd.

He said he only needed approximately RM10 million for each general election and even won with more than a two-thirds majority.

He also said that spending more than RM2 billion for an election in Malaysia by any party is wrong, saying that an amount that high could lead to fraud and corruption.

Further commenting on the matter, Najib said he had never questioned former premier, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he was the deputy prime minister and the UMNO deputy president.

Similarly, he said Abdullah too never questioned Dr Mahathir or even UMNO treasurer Tun Daim Zainuddin about money when he was the deputy.

Najib was puzzled on why he was now facing such questions unlike his predecessors.

He said he had never broken any law and was even cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).