Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's visit to the United States in 2002 was funded by the government and audited according to procedure, said Foreign Affairs Ministry parliamentary secretary Zainal Abidin Osman today.

Responding to a question from parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), he told the Dewan Rakyat that the visit was arranged through diplomatic channels.

"Tun (Mahathir) did visit US in 2002. He went there on the invitation by US president George W Bush," he said during the ministry's winding-up speech for the Supplementary Supply (2004) Bill 2005 at the committee stage.

However, Zainal said he did not have information on whether any lobby activities involving public funds had taken place prior to the visit.

"I don't have the information (of lobby activities) before the visit. What I can stress here is that all the expenditure was paid by the government and the account was audited," he added.

A recent news report in US daily, Washington Post, stated that Mahathir had allegedly hired Washington lobbyists through the US-based Heritage Foundation to persuade the White House to agree to the visit.

Millions spent

The report claimed that the expenditure for the lobby activities amounted to about RM5.3million.

It said investigations revealed the money was paid to Hong Kong-based Belle Haven Consultants - a company linked to Heritage president Edwin Feulner - which funnels funds to lobbyists in Washington.

The daily also stated that Heritage Foundation diluted its criticism of Malaysia soon after Belle Haven accepted the multi-million ringgit contract to lobby in favour of Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir met Bush at the White House in May 2002. It was the former premier's first state visit since 1994.