KUANTAN - Pahang Pas has strongly denied the accusations made by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, labeling them as malicious and aimed at tarnishing the party's reputation.
Pahang Pas information chief Mohd Tarmizi Yahya refuted the claims that Pas assemblymen had misappropriated funds allocated during the existence of Muafakat Nasional (MN) in Pahang.
He clarified that the allegations of spending the funds on state elections in Melaka and Johor were completely false.
Tarmizi emphasised that Wan Rosdy's statements seemed to be an attempt to regain popularity after Pahang Umno, under his leadership, suffered a crushing defeat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
"Wan Rosdy's speech (accusation) had ill intention. In my opinion, Wan Rosdy is trying to show he is still relevant despite Pahang Umno, under his leadership, was badly defeated as they lost 17 state assembly seats last year.
"He had already become Menteri Besar and appointed as Umno vice-president, so he needs to be more careful when issuing statements, and he needs to practice healthy politics," he said when contacted today.
Recently, Jengka PAS assemblyman Shahril Azman Abd Halim shared a video on his TikTok account related to Wan Rosdy's accusations.
However, he clarified that the recording of Wan Rosdy's speech during the townhall session had been removed from all Umno-affiliated social media accounts.
Wan Rosdy also alleged that Pas assemblymen in Pahang had abused food baskets and aid distribution during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He claimed that a Pas assemblyman had replaced the Menteri Besar's sticker on the food baskets with his own in the district.
Tarmizi, who also serves as the Panching assemblyman, refuted this allegation. He explained that the assemblyman had merely placed stickers next to Wan Rosdy's photo on the food baskets distributed to the people.
"We were still in MN then, so our (Pas) assemblyman put a sticker next to his photo instead of us putting the sticker on top of his.
"It was done to tell the people that the aid came from Pahang government through the assemblyman's office, to show that MN and the state government are together," he said.
On the accusation of Pas assemblymen using funds meant for the Johor and Melaka state elections, Tarmizi clarified that the funds given to Pas assemblymen were not in the form of cash.
Instead, they had to make personal payments first and then submit claims to the state finance office for reimbursement.
"He claims that we received RM20,000 per month, but in reality, we did not receive cash allocations. We had to use our own money initially and then submit reimbursement claims with receipts to the Pahang finance office.
"Some claims were approved, while others were not. The state finance office would not approve claims if they were used for purposes other than those intended," Tarmizi explained.
"He claimed that we received RM20,000 a month but actually we didn't receive the allocation in cash. We had to use our own money first and then claim it at Pahang finance office.
"Some of the claims were approved and some were not. All (claims) had to be submitted with receipt. So how can he accused us of using the money for the state election in Johor and Melaka because surely the state finance office would not approve our claim if it was used for that purpose," he explained.