Umno Supreme Council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said Umno and BN had always wanted only clean candidates to contest in the general election and therefore their lists of candidates had been submitted much earlier to the MACC for screening.

Tajuddin, who is also Pasir Salak MP, said the move was made to avoid bigger problems after the election if the candidates failed the screening.

“This is a preliminary step taken to ensure that the candidates who win in GE14 will be able to focus on serving the people who voted for them.

“If the candidate wins but fails the screening by the MACC, it will affect their service to the people,” he told reporters after handing over aid to about 100 people from the parliamentary constituency here yesterday.

Recently, the opposition said there was no pressing need to submit its list of candidates as it had its own vetting system for its candidates.