KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri has had his statement recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the the government's RM700 million publicity spending in 2020 to 2022.
The agency confirmed this in a statement on Wednesday evening.
It was previously reported that a former prime minister and individuals who served as his aide during his tenure are among "no less than four individuals" that the MACC would call in for questioning over the matter.
Malaysia had three prime ministers during the 2020-2022 period, namely Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who served from May 2018 up until February 2020, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from February 2020 to August 2021, and Ismail Sabri from August 2021 to November 2022.
Reports then circulated that the former prime minister was Ismail Sabri.
On Monday, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki told reporters during an event he attended in Sepang that the investigation will centre on how government funds were spent, and which companies received the funding.
He also said that only one former prime minister would be called in to assist in the investigations for now.
The probe started last week, following a statement made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Dewan Rakyat in November last year.
At the time, Anwar said RM500 million was earmarked for publicity spending during Muhyiddin’s tenure, while the balance RM200 million was used during Ismail Sabri’s administration.
“This means that, on average, over RM300 million per year was expended on advertising, promotion and publicity to publicise the government’s efforts. I personally believe this breached rules and regulations, showing excessive spending,” Anwar was reported as saying at the time.