UMNO vice chief suspended for corruption

The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has suspended its vice president Mohamed Isa Abdul Samad for six-year money politics, the official Bernama news agency reported Saturday.

The UMNO disciplinary board decided on Friday to suspend Samad's membership for six years or two terms after he was found guilty of vote buying in the party elections last September.

Samad, 56, who serves as minister of federal territories in the government, is the top UMNO politician found guilty of corruption since Prim Minister Abdullah Ahamad Badawi launched the anti-corruption campaign after he came to power in 2003.

The consequent vacancy in one of the three UMNO vice presidencies will not be filled until the next party elections duein 2007, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said Friday.

It was up to Badawi who was also UMNO chief to decide whether Samad would maintain his government post as minister of federal territories, Razak added. UMNO leads the party coalition National Front, which has been ruling Malaysia since its independence in 1957.

Source: Xinhua