MP refuses to withdraw allegations on Anwar having foreign bank accounts

Simpang Renggam member of parliament Liang Teck Meng today refused to retract or apologise for his allegations in Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday that Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim owned 20 foreign bank accounts, including in Israel.

He also said the call by opposition MPs to refer him to the Rights and Privilege Committee was aimed at deflecting attention and preventing the government from investigating the matter.

"I only asked for an investigation, if it's not true, why refer me to Rights and Privilege Committee. Referring me to the committee looks like an attempt to prevent the government from investigating it," he told reporters at the Dewan Rakyat lobby on Wednesday.

Anwar and several opposition MPs had this morning demanded that Liang should retract his allegation or face the Rights and Privilege Committee.

Anwar also denied that there was any information on him purportedly having a bank account in Israel, posted on the Wikileaks site as claimed by Liang.

"I have checked Wikileaks, there's no such claim mentioning me or an Israel bank account on the site," he told reporters.

He then blamed an Umno blogger for the allegation saying it was baseless.

At the Dewan Rakyat sitting yesterday, Liang quoted anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks claiming Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had RM332 million stashed away in 20 banks in four countries, including Israel.

Meanwhile, Tian Chua (DAP-Batu) raised Meeting Regulation 36 (9) to refer Liang to the Committee for abuse of privilege for touching upon Anwar's personal matters which were unrelated to his duties as an MP.

The Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia finally concluded that he would obtain an explanation from Liang on the allegations and if he was still adamant about it a motion could be tabled to refer him to the Rights and Privilege Committee.