The anti-graft group’s chairman, Edmund Terence Gomez, said these politicians must clear themselves of such allegations before they stand for election.

“I am referring to the court cases of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from Umno, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman from Muda, and even Lim Guan Eng from DAP,” he said at the launch of C4’s Business in Politics report.

Gomez also said politicians whose names were brought up in the Pandora Papers leak should not have been nominated as candidates for GE15.

“I’m calling on the party presidents to look carefully at the candidates they nominated. If they have serious allegations against them, such as being named in the Pandora Papers, why are they still being nominated?”

The data leak is the biggest of its kind, and involves nearly 12 million documents and other records from offshore service providers who help set up and manage shell companies around the world.

Among those who have been linked to it are Zahid, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, PKR’s William Leong as well as the parents of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho.

Gomez, who authored the report, questioned the candidate selection process used by political parties, saying that some of the 13 MPs that C4 reviewed are not only GE15 candidates but have major political-business links.

“If party leaders bring more people with business links into the political system, will this not lead to the further monetisation of politics? Will this not lead to further corruption in this country?” he asked.

As such, he said, party leaders should be more responsible when it comes to selecting their candidates.

“Ultimately, it is the party leaders who sign off the ‘watikah’ (appointment letter) which allows their candidates to run for election. So, be responsible. Nominate good candidates,” he said.

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