This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 13, 2019 - March 19, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS members of Parliament caused a commotion in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday when Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir (PH-Johor Bahru) cited news reports about leaders from the Islamic party allegedly receiving RM90 million from Umno.

In his speech for the motion to support the Royal Address, Akmal Nasrullah challenged leaders from PAS and Umno to declare their assets publicly to debunk news articles regarding investigations into their alleged wealth.

"I have some concerns that the misappropriation may not only have occurred among leaders from Umno, as I read a news report stating that there were PAS leaders whose bank accounts were frozen because of receiving funds amounted to RM1 million.  

“Therefore, I urge the minister in charge to verify whether there are leaders from PAS being investigated under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. I want to challenge Umno and PAS leaders to declare their assets openly,” he said.

Ahmad Amzad Mohamed @ Hashim (PAS- Kuala Terengganu) stood up and slammed Akmal Nasrullah for bringing up the news reports, saying it was inappropriate as they were unproven.

“Name the leaders! This news has circulated for so long, but none of the leaders have been named for owning luxury cars, whose accounts have been frozen. Show us the evidence,” Ahmad challenged.

Che Alias Hamid (PAS-Kemaman), Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi (PAS-Tumpat), and Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PAS-Pasir Mas) followed suit and stood up without permission to protest, leading Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof to instruct all PAS leaders to stop their commotion.