Investigators from Malaysia's tax agency raid home of opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin
File photo of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) secretary-general and Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainudin. (Photo: Facebook/Bernama)
KUALA LUMPUR: The home of Malaysian opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin was raided by investigators from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) on Tuesday (Jun 13) due to allegations of unreported taxes.
According to The Star, citing a source, Mr Hamzah was at home during the raid.
“Files and documents related to bank accounts and ownership of assets were seized,” the source reportedly said on Thursday.
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) information chief Razali Idris confirmed with the Malay Mail in a report on Thursday that the raid was conducted against the party’s secretary-general.
According to The Star, sources close to Mr Hamzah alleged that the raid was a politically motivated act by the authorities.
They claimed that the Larut Member of Parliament (MP) has filed his taxes.
“LDHN did not specify in detail the reason for the raid, on whether or not it was related to taxes of a company or some projects.
“Hamzah is still waiting for documents from the board,” The Star quoted the sources as saying.
A Bersatu source was also quoted by Free Malaysia Today as saying that the raid failed to unearth anything negative on Mr Hamzah.
“This (raid) is aimed at tarnishing our name and (creating) a negative perception against us,” another source reportedly said.
In February, Mr Hamzah had accused the government of using the country’s anti-graft agency as a political tool to “kill” Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) credibility.
Bersatu is part of the PN coalition along with the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan).
“Bersatu expresses its regret at the move by the PH (Pakatan Harapan) -BN (Barisan Nasional) government to use a government agency as a tool to achieve its political goals by killing off the credibility of Bersatu and PN,” Mr Hamzah said then.
In April, Mr Hamzah’s son, Muhammad Faisal Hamzah - who is the director of Rimba Merpati Sdn Bhd - was charged in the Sessions Court with nine counts of violations in relation to the federal government’s list of controlled goods.
Rimba Merpati Sdn Bhd is a wholesale cooking oil licence holder. Cooking oil is a controlled item under Section 8(4) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961.
According to The Edge, Muhammad Faisal and another director of the company, Azizul Abdul Halim, were both charged with allegedly providing false information by producing fake invoices on the purported sale of subsidised cooking oil to a local retail company.
The two were also charged by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living with possessing more than the allowed amount of 50 metric tonnes of cooking oil.
