PETALING JAYA: Allegations have arisen that a politician sold titles and bought properties beyond his means, which prompted several members of his party to lodge reports with the authorities.

A youth wing member of the party lodged a police report at IPD Sentul at 10.17pm on Friday (July 13).

A highly-placed source within the party, who did not want to be named, said party members received a tell-all WhatsApp message from an unknown sender on Friday (July 13).

"There is a general sense of concern ... They feel betrayed, if this is true.

The source said, in order to clear the party's name, the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Inland Revenue Board (IRB) need to investigate the contents of the WhatsApp and the attached documents.

According to the source, the message spurred party members to lodge reports with the police, MACC and IRB that very night (July 13).

The source claimed that he had sighted hundreds of pages of documents said to substantiate the claims made in the WhatsApp message.

The alleged modus operandi of the leader whose party was part of the outgoing administration, was also detailed in the message.

It claimed that if someone indicated interest in procuring a title such as "Tan Sri", the leader would instruct his personal secretary to communicate with them.

The "buyer" would then be asked to send a cheque or to transfer money directly to the lawyer of the leader.

Once the transfer of funds was verified, the politician would then allegedly send a written instruction to the lawyer's firm to purchase property – either locally or abroad.

The message also alleged that the leader had accumulated close to RM30mil in properties.

While the leader may have purchased the properties with funds obtained legally, the source doubted this was possible.

The source cited an example of a piece of property in Britain, which cost over £710,000 (RM3.8mil).

Those buying or selling titles – real or otherwise – could face up to 20 years behind bars under a new Offences Relating to Awards Act 2017.

Those found misusing emblems, names and pictures could be imprisoned up to three years or made to pay a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or both under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) (Amendment) Act 2016.

Both laws came into effect recently to curb misuse of awards by the Federal and state rulers as well as to protect the prestige of royal institutions.

Under Section 15 of the Offences Relating to Awards Act, any person by himself or via another, shall not solicit, receive or agree to receive, shall not give, promise or offer to any person any gratification as a consideration for procuring the grant of any award.