Nod for Nik Abduh's fib? Hadi won't say

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang yesterday repeatedly skirted around the question of whether he had given his "blessings" for Nik Abduh Nik Aziz to lie about receiving money from Umno.

At an event in Kuala Terengganu yesterday, Hadi was asked twice on whether he had given Nik Abduh the nod.

"I didn't watch the video (clip). I didn't read (about it). Hence I don't want to comment," he said to the first question.

At the second time of asking, he had tried to shift the attention elsewhere.

"Let's see if it is true or not. (I'll have to) read it first. There are a lot of things and I'm busy with other matters," he said.

When pressed if he would actually listen to the audio clip, Hadi replied: "It depends."

"It depends on whether I have time. I have a lot of other work. I have no time to listen to things that happened in the past."

To a question on whether it was permissible to lie to protect a fellow Muslim, Hadi replied in the affirmative.

"Of course. If a criminal came here to look for a victim, will you identify the victim (to the criminal)?

"We will be compelled to lie to save the person... There are times (where lying is permissible)," he said.

On Wednesday, Nik Abduh finally admitted that he was indeed the person heard in an audio recording released last year, where he spoke about receiving funds from Umno.

He said that after the recording was leaked, PAS leaders, including Hadi, told him to deny that it was his voice heard in the clip.

PAS is currently being probed by the authorities over allegations that it received RM90 million from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Hadi had attempted to sue Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for making the allegation. However, he eventually withdrew the suit, prompting fresh scrutiny on the party's funding.

There are speculations that the money, if any, could be linked to PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli's allegation in 2017 that large amounts of money originating from SRC International Sdn Bhd was channelled to former PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa.

SRC International is a former subsidiary of 1MDB, which is at the centre of an international financial scandal.